Heat Stress Impacts on Cardiac Mortality in Nepali Migrant Workers in Qatar

Pradhan, B.; Kjellström, Tord; Atar, Dan; Sharma, Puspa; Kayastha, Birendra; Bhandari, Gita; Pradhan, Prachanda

doi:10.1159/000500853

Cited by 78 publications

(70 citation statements)

References 30 publications

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“…Furthermore, a higher risk of mental health problems [9,13], acute and chronic pesticide poisoning [9,18] and heat-related illness [5,7,[19][20][21][22] were reported among migrant and seasonal farm workers. However, underreporting of medical conditions is significant due to limited access to health services, and fear of lost wages or jobs [23].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Considerable risk of work-related injury and illnesses among seasonal and migrant farm workers in Ethiopia: A Community-based Cross-sectional Study

Gelaye¹,

Debalke²,

Ayele³

et al. 2020

Preprint

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Background: Migrant and seasonal farm workers are at increased risk for occupational fatalities and injuries. However, there is limited evidence about the risk of occupational injury in those who move within the country to take up work in Ethiopia, although in recent years such employment-related geographical mobility is receiving increasing attention. Therefore, this study aimed to investigate work-related injuries, illnesses and the associated risk factors among seasonal and migrant farm workers in Ethiopia.Methods: Community-based cross-sectional study design was employed from October to November 2019 among seasonal and migrant farm workers. The study was carried out in two sites of Amhara regional state, northwest Ethiopia. A cluster sampling technique was used to select 990 study participants. Bivariable and multivariable binary logistic regression analyses were performed using SPSS version 20 to identify predictors. The significance level was obtained at 95% CI and p- value ≤ 0.05.Results: In this study, the period prevalence of work-related injury among seasonal and migrant farm workers was 32.5% (95% CI: 29.7, 35.9). Above half (60.9%) of study participants have shown three or more heat-related illness symptoms. Extreme weakness (56.8%), skin rash (45.1%), headache (40.4%), profuse sweating (42.9%) and fatigue (45.1%) were the commonest heat-related symptoms reported by the seasonal and migrant farm workers. Moreover, the prevalence of work-related stress among seasonal and migrant farm workers was 67.6% (95% CI: 64.6, 70.7). Being unemployed before migration (AOR = 2.22, 95% CI: 1.26, 3.91), working for > 8 h/day (AOR = 1.62, 95% CI: 1.16, 2.27), stress (AOR = 1.38, 95% CI: 1.02, 1.88) and thermal discomfort (AOR = 1.48, 95% CI: 1.09, 1.98) were the significant risk factors for work-related injury.Conclusion: In this study, heat-related illness, work-related injury and stress among seasonal and migrant farm workers in northwest Ethiopia remain a major public health problem. Employment history, average working hours and stress were among the risk factors associated with a work-related injury. Hence, provision of ongoing safety training, personal protective equipments, improving working hours and stress management could be given attention to minimize the problem.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Considerable risk of work-related injury and illnesses among seasonal and migrant farm workers in Ethiopia: A Community-based Cross-sectional Study

Gelaye¹,

Debalke²,

Ayele³

et al. 2020

Preprint

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

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“… 19 Third study looked at the chronic kidney disease among workers and found that 13.6% of workers had diabetic nephropathy. 37 In the study by Pradhan et al, 35 cardiovascular disease, natural/others reasons and murder contributed to 42%, 25% and 1.7% of deaths, respectively. The last study reported that of patients attending to the emergency medical service in Qatar, out-of-hospital cardiac arrest among Nepalese migrant patients was found to be 11.6% 22 ( table 1 ).…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 95%

“… 39 Another study reported that more than one-quarter (25.4%) of migrants had traffic related pedestrian injuries during abroad work 20 ( table 1 ). A study by Pradhan et al 35 conducted a retrospective analysis of Government of Nepal data from 2009–2017 and recorded 1345 deaths, of which workplace accident and road traffic accidents contributed to 12% and 10% deaths, respectively. 33 cases of work-related ocular injuries were reported in one study among Nepalese patients of the 440 patients attending a hospital in Malaysia.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“… 21 One study analysed Nepalese government’s report and looked at 1354 deaths in Nepalese migrant workers, of which 8.5% were due to suicide. 35 The fifth quality qualitative study reported various mental health problems among the workers including loneliness, social isolation, tensions, anxiety, attempt to suicide 38 ( table 1 ).…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…3 This raises questions about robustness of postmortem investigative practices and classification methodologies, a concern highlighted by both the Nepalese government and civil society groups. 43 Indeed, Pradhan et al 35 suggest that many deaths attributed to cardiovascular diseases and ‘natural causes’ correlate with longer hours worked in high temperatures in this setting. It is worth noting that Nepalese migrant workers themselves are not oblivious to these occupational risks—those who reported a poor or very poor work environment were found to be 3.5 times more likely to suffer a workplace accident.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Health and well-being issues of Nepalese migrant workers in the Gulf Cooperation Council countries and Malaysia: a systematic review

et al. 2020

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ObjectiveTo summarise the evidence on health and well-being of Nepalese migrant workers in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries and Malaysia.DesignSystematic review.Data sourcesEMBASE, MEDLINE, Scopus and Global Health databases.Eligibility criteriaStudies were eligible if they: (1) included Nepalese migrant workers aged 18 or older working in the GCC countries or Malaysia or returnee migrant workers from these countries; (2) were primary studies that investigated health and well-being status/issues; and (3) were published in English language before 8 May 2020.Study appraisalAll included studies were critically appraised using Joanna Briggs Institute study specific tools.ResultsA total of 33 studies were eligible for inclusion; 12 studies were conducted in Qatar, 8 in Malaysia, 9 in Nepal, 2 in Saudi Arabia and 1 each in UAE and Kuwait. In majority of the studies, there was a lack of disaggregated data on demographic characteristics of Nepalese migrant workers. Nearly half of the studies (n=16) scored as ‘high’ quality and the rest (n=17) as ‘moderate’ quality. Five key health and well-being related issues were identified in this population: (1) occupational hazards; (2) sexual health; (3) mental health; (4) healthcare access and (5) infectious diseases.ConclusionTo our knowledge, this is the most comprehensive review of the health and well-being of Nepalese migrant workers in the GCC countries and Malaysia. This review highlights an urgent need to identify and implement policies and practices across Nepal and destination countries to protect the health and well-being of migrant workers.

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Extreme climatic events and human biology and health: A primer and opportunities for future research

Rosinger

2022

American J Hum Biol

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Extreme climatic events are increasing in frequency, leading to hotter temperatures, flooding, droughts, severe storms, and rising oceans. This special issue brings together a collection of seven articles that describe the impacts of extreme climatic events on a diverse set of human biology and health outcomes. The first two articles cover extreme temperatures extending from extreme heat to cold and changes in winter weather and the respective implications for adverse health events, human environmental limits, well‐being, and human adaptability. Next, two articles cover the effects of exposures to extreme storms through an examination of hurricanes and cyclones on stress and birth outcomes. The following two articles describe the effects of extreme flooding events on livelihoods, nutrition, water and food insecurity, diarrheal and respiratory health, and stress. The last article examines the effects of drought on diet and food insecurity. Following a brief review of each extreme climatic event and articles covered in this special issue, I discuss future research opportunities–highlighting domains of climate change and specific research questions that are ripe for biological anthropologists to investigate. I close with a description of interdisciplinary methods to assess climate exposures and human biology outcomes to aid the investigation of the defining question of our time – how climate change will affect human biology and health. Ultimately, climate change is a water, food, and health problem. Human biologists offer a unique perspective for a combination of theoretical, methodological, and applied reasons and thus are in a prime position to contribute to this critical research agenda.

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Heat Stress Impacts on Cardiac Mortality in Nepali Migrant Workers in Qatar

Cited by 78 publications

References 30 publications

Considerable risk of work-related injury and illnesses among seasonal and migrant farm workers in Ethiopia: A Community-based Cross-sectional Study

Considerable risk of work-related injury and illnesses among seasonal and migrant farm workers in Ethiopia: A Community-based Cross-sectional Study

Health and well-being issues of Nepalese migrant workers in the Gulf Cooperation Council countries and Malaysia: a systematic review

Extreme climatic events and human biology and health: A primer and opportunities for future research

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