Total Hip Replacement due to Primary Osteoarthritis in Relation to Cumulative Occupational Exposures and Lifestyle Factors: A Nationwide Nested Case–Control Study

Abstract

Objective. To investigate the risk of total hip replacement (THR) due to primary osteoarthritis in relation to cumulative occupational mechanical exposures and lifestyle factors. Methods. Using register information, we identified first-time THR cases within the Danish working population in 2005-2006. For each case, 2 age-and sex-matched controls were drawn. Persons within 2,500 randomly selected case-control sets received a questionnaire about job history, weight at age 25 years, present weight and height, smoking, and sports activities at age 25 years. The job history was combined with a job exposure matrix. Cumulative exposure estimates were expressed according to the pack-year concept of smoking (e.g., cumulative lifting was expressed as ton-years). We used conditional logistic regression for statistical analyses.

Cumulative occupational mechanical exposures during working life and risk of sickness absence and disability pension: prospective cohort study

“…Cumulative occupational mechanical exposures were estimated as previously described by Rubak et al (17). In brief, cumulative exposure variables were generated similar to calculation of pack-years are as a measure of cumulated dose of tobacco consumption (17,29).…”

“…During recent years, several JEM have been constructed to capture exposure to physical working conditions (14,16). However, only few studies have used mechanical exposure JEM, and most of these assess mechanical exposure in relation to development and consequence of different diseases or pain symptoms (14,(17)(18)(19)(20)(21)(22).…”

“…Occupational mechanical Sundstrup et al exposures throughout working life were assessed with data from a JEM -the lower-body JEM (10) -that was originally developed for large-scale epidemiological studies of primary hip and knee osteoarthritis (14). The JEM is based on expert judgments of mechanical exposures in 121 homogeneous exposure groups and provide estimates of total load lifted per day and daily frequency of lifting loads weighing 20 kg, as well as hours of exposure to standing/walking, sitting, kneeling/squatting, and whole-body vibration during an 8-hour working day (14,17). The CAMB questionnaire used for the present study provided information about job history (ie, job titles and length of service for the five longest-held occupations) for each individual in the study population (18,19) and covered in average a total period of 30.6 years per individual worker (31.5 in men and 29.7 in women) (18).…”

Cumulative Effects of Occupational Loading as a Risk Factor for Hip Pain in UK Military Personnel - Study Protocol of a Case Control Study

“…Understanding "how" a risk factor is acting over time is important as it could provide an insight into the aetiology of a condition in the general field of occupational health. Research is also necessary to ensure a currently unutilized potential for prevention is not missed [29].…”

“…The items included in this questionnaire are adapted from previous validated instruments used in population-based studies of lifestyle [32], occupational demands and hip OA [2,14,16,17,23,28,29] ( Table 1). The structured questionnaire contains sections enquiring about sociodemographic factors, physical characteristics, pre-enlistment activity levels, musculoskeletal symptoms, injury history, occupational physical loading, sports participation, and lifestyle factors including smoking and alcohol consumption.…”