Inguinal hernia and certain risk factors

Abstract

There are several studies on inguinal hernias that give some clues about the association between this type of hernia and certain risk factors. This association was suspected long ago but had not been demonstrated. The present study tries to correlate the origin of inguinal hernias and the physical effort of the subjects in accordance with their work activity. The results of this study show that physical effort, as a risk factor, is closely related to the appearance of inguinal hernias. A person whose work involves lifting or other strenuous exertion has a higher risk than those whose jobs are less strenuous (p less than 0.05). This conclusion was reached after taking into account not only the weight lifted but also the number of years in this activity.

Risk and prognosis of inguinal hernia in relation to occupational mechanical exposures - a systematic review of the epidemiologic evidence

“…Four studies included only men (3,11,38,39), two studies included around 80% men (41,42), one study included 40% men (2), and one study included only women (12). Two studies relied on self-reported outcomes (38,39), two studies were based on physician diagnoses (2,3) in part reported by the participants (2), and the four case-control studies focused on hernia repair (11,12,41,42). Among the six studies that did not rely on self-reported outcomes, four studies focused on inguinal hernias (2,3,11,12), and two studies included femoral hernias together with inguinal hernias (41,42).…”

“…Unfortunately, physical activity at work was not included in multivariable models, and risk estimates were not presented. (42) compared 128 cases who were surgically treated for inguinal or femoral hernia with 174 controls from the recruitment area of the hospital. Exclusion criteria for cases and controls differed in that controls were excluded if they had a clinical history of any kind of hernia or "closely-related illnesses".…”

“…Two studies relied on self-reported outcomes (38,39), two studies were based on physician diagnoses (2,3) in part reported by the participants (2), and the four case-control studies focused on hernia repair (11,12,41,42). Among the six studies that did not rely on self-reported outcomes, four studies focused on inguinal hernias (2,3,11,12), and two studies included femoral hernias together with inguinal hernias (41,42). Only two studies were explicitly restricted to first-time inguinal hernias (2,11).…”

“…Of the eight epidemiologic studies with information on risk of inguinal hernia in relation to occupation or occupational mechanical exposures, three were crosssectional (3,38,39), four were case-control studies (11,12,41,42), and one was a prospective cohort study (2). Four studies included only men (3,11,38,39), two studies included around 80% men (41,42), one study included 40% men (2), and one study included only women (12).…”

“…A total of 23 original papers were included, including 1 (38) that was identified through the reference list in another paper (39), and 1 (40) that was identified in a review (34). Of the 11 original papers on risk, 8 assessed the risk of inguinal hernia in relation to occupation or occupational exposures (2,3,11,12,38,39,41,42) and 3 assessed the risk of inguinal hernia in rela-tion to a single strenuous event (43)(44)(45). Of 12 original papers on post-operative prognosis, 7 concerned recurrence (35,40,(46)(47)(48)(49)(50) and 6 concerned persistent pain (49,(51)(52)(53)(54)(55); 1 provided results on both outcomes (49).…”