| 1. |
- Burström, Lage, et al.
(författare)
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A follow-up study of welders’ exposure to vibration in a heavy engineering production workshop
- 2010
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Ingår i: Journal of Low Frequency Noise Vibration and Active Control. - : Sage Publications. - 0263-0923 .- 1461-3484 .- 2048-4046. ; 29:1, s. 33-39
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Manual work involving vibrating power tools is associated with symptoms that include vascular, neurological and musculoskeletal disorders. This study examines the vibration exposure of welders to determine the change between 1987 and 2008. Vibration measurements on handheld tools were used to evaluate the acceleration and the daily exposure time was determined by subjective rating. From these data, the 8-hour equivalent vibration exposure A(8), has been calculated. During the period, the A(8) decreased from 3.9 m/s2 to 1.9 m/s2. It was concluded that this decrease is the result of fewer vibrating tools and a decrease in daily exposure time. Although the daily vibration exposure has decreased over the study time, for some welders the daily vibration exposure A(8) is still above the action value set by the EU directive on vibration. This means more effort should be spent to decrease vibration exposure.
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| 2. |
- Carlsson, Daniel, 1982-, et al.
(författare)
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Can sensation of cold hands predict Raynaud's phenomenon or paraesthesia?
- 2018
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Ingår i: Occupational Medicine. - : Oxford University Press (OUP). - 0962-7480 .- 1471-8405. ; 68:5, s. 314-319
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Background Raynaud's phenomenon and neurosensory symptoms are common after hand-arm vibration exposure. Knowledge of early signs of vibration injuries is needed. Aims To investigate the risk of developing Raynaud's phenomenon and paraesthesia in relation to sensation of cold hands in a cohort of male employees at an engineering plant. Methods We followed a cohort of male manual and office workers at an engineering plant in Sweden for 21 years. At baseline (1987 and 1992) and each follow-up (1992, 1997, 2002, 2008), we assessed sensation of cold, Raynaud's phenomenon and paraesthesia in the hands using questionnaires and measured vibration exposure. We calculated risk estimates with univariate and multiple logistic regression analyses and adjusted for vibration exposure and tobacco usage. Results There were 241 study participants. During the study period, 21 individuals developed Raynaud's phenomenon and 43 developed paraesthesia. When adjusting the risk of developing Raynaud's phenomenon for vibration exposure and tobacco use, the odds ratios were between 6.0 and 6.3 (95% CI 2.2-17.0). We observed no increased risk for paraesthesia in relation to a sensation of cold hands. Conclusions A sensation of cold hands was a risk factor for Raynaud's phenomenon. At the individual level, reporting a sensation of cold hands did not appear to be useful information to predict future development of Raynaud's phenomenon given a weak to moderate predictive value. For paraesthesia, the sensation of cold was not a risk factor and there was no predictive value at the individual level.
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| 3. |
- Pettersson, Hans, et al.
(författare)
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Noise and hand-arm vibration exposure in relation to the risk of hearing loss
- 2012
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Ingår i: Noise & Health. - : Medknow. - 1463-1741 .- 1998-4030. ; 14:59, s. 159-165
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The aim of this study was to examine the possible association of combined exposure of noise and hand-arm vibration (HAV) and the risk of noise-induced hearing loss. Workers in a heavy engineering industry were part of a dynamic cohort. Of these workers, 189 had HAV exposure, and their age and hearing status were recorded in the same year and were, therefore, included in the analysis. Data on HAV duration and acceleration was gathered through questionnaires, observations, and measurements. All available audiograms were categorized into normal and hearing loss. The first exposure variable included the lifetime HAV exposure. The lifetime HAV exposure was multiplied by the acceleration of HAV for the second and third exposure variable. Logistic regression using the Generalized Estimation Equations method was chosen to analyze the data to account for the repeated measurements. The analysis was performed with both continuous exposure variables and with exposure variables grouped into exposure quartiles with hearing loss as an outcome and age as a covariate. With continuous exposure variables, the odds ratio (OR) with a 95 confidence interval (CI) for hearing loss was equal to or greater than one for all exposure variables. When the exposure variables were grouped into quartiles, the OR with a 95 CI was greater than one at the third and fourth quartile. The results show that working with vibrating machines in an environment with noise exposure increases the risk of hearing loss, supporting an association between exposure to noise and HAV, and the noise-induced hearing loss.
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| 4. |
- Pettersson, Hans, et al.
(författare)
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Risk of Hearing Loss Among Workers with Vibration-Induced White Fingers
- 2014
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Ingår i: American Journal of Industrial Medicine. - : Wiley. - 0271-3586 .- 1097-0274. ; 57:12, s. 1311-1318
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- BackgroundWe examined the risk of hearing loss for workers who use hand-held vibrating tools with vibration-induced white fingers (VWF) compared to workers without VWF. MethodsData on 184 participants from a 21-year cohort were gathered with questionnaires and measurements. The effects on hearing status of VWF, hand-arm vibration exposure, smoking habits, age and two-way interactions of these independent variables were examined with binary logistic regression. Analyses were made for the right hand and ear as well as for the hand with VWF and the ear with worse categorized hearing status. ResultsWorkers with VWF in their right hand had an increased risk of hearing loss (odds ratio 2.2-2.3) in the right ear. Workers with VWF in any hand did not have any increased risk of hearing loss in the ear with worse hearing status. ConclusionsThis study supports the hypothesis that VWF increases the risk of hearing loss among workers who use hand-held vibrating tools in a noisy environment. Am. J. Ind. Med. 57:1311-1318, 2014. (c) 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
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| 5. |
- Pettersson, Hans, 1980-, et al.
(författare)
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Risk of hearing loss in relation to vibration-induced white fingers among workers using hand-held vibrating tools
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Annan publikation (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Background Vibration-induced white fingers (VWF) may increase the risk of hearing loss among workers using hand-held vibrating machines who are exposed to noise and hand-arm vibrations (HAV). The present study uses a 21-year follow-up cohort of workers who use hand-held vibrating machines. The aim of this study is to examine the risk of hearing loss for workers with and without VWF who use hand-held vibrating tools.Methods All 184 participants used hand-held vibrating machines and were part of a Swedish cohort. At each follow-up each participant answered a questionnaire on basic individual data, use of hand-held vibrating tools, and VWF symptoms. The VWF symptoms were categorized as with or without VWF. HAV acceleration was measured at each follow-up. Hearing threshold levels from audiometric measurements were categorized as normal hearing and hearing loss. Two exposure estimates were used and divided into two exposure groups: lifetime exposure to HAV (Time) and lifetime exposure to HAV multiplied by acceleration (TimeAcc). To be included in the analysis, each participant had to have hearing status, categorized VWF symptoms, exposure estimates and stated smoking habits measured in the same year for either 1987, 1992, 1997, 2002, or 2008. The relationship between binary outcome of hearing status and the interaction of the explanatory variables, i.e. categorized VWF symptoms, exposure estimates, smoking habits and age, were calculated using binary logistic regression. Because of the repeated measurement of these variables, the Generalized Estimating Equations procedure with a first-order autoregressive correlation structure was used. Three analyses were made for left hand and left ear, right hand and right ear, and hand with worst categorized VWF symptoms and ear with worst categorized hearing status.Results In our study, there was an interaction between exposure estimates (Time and TimeAcc) with the variable categorized VWF symptoms in the left hand on the risk of hearing loss in the left ear. Workers with VWF in the left hand had an increased risk of hearing loss in the left ear if they were in the low exposure group (OR 4.7-7.1) but not in the high exposure groups. There was an increased risk of hearing loss in the left ear for workers in the high exposure group without VWF in the left hand (OR 3.3-3.6) but not for workers with VWF. Workers with VWF in their right hand had an increased risk of hearing loss (OR 2.2-2.3) in the right ear compared to workers without VWF. Workers with VWF on the hand with worst categorization according to the Stockholm Workshop Scale (SWS) for the vascular component did not have any increased risk of hearing loss in the ear with worse hearing status.Conclusions We found that workers with VWF who are using hand-held vibrating machines had an increased risk of hearing loss compared to workers without VWF. This result supports an association between VWF and an increased risk of hearing loss among workers using hand-held vibrating tools in a noisy environment.
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