| 1. |
- Kjellström, Tord, et al.
(författare)
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Environmental health
- 2012
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Ingår i: Global Health, 3rd edition. - Boston : Jones and Bartlett Publishers. ; , s. 481-537
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Bokkapitel (refereegranskat)
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| 2. |
- Lemke, Bruno, et al.
(författare)
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Calculating workplace WBGT from meteorological data : a tool for climate change assessment
- 2012
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Ingår i: Industrial Health. - 0019-8366 .- 1880-8026. ; 50:4, s. 267-278
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Forskningsöversikt (refereegranskat)abstract
- The WBGT heat stress index has been well tested under a variety of climatic conditions and quantitative links have been established between WBGT and the work-rest cycles needed to prevent heat stress effects at the workplace. While there are more specific methods based on individual physiological measurements to determine heat strain in an individual worker, the WBGT index is used in international and national standards to specify workplace heat stress risks. In order to assess time trends of occupational heat exposure at population level, weather station records or climate modelling are the most widely available data sources. The prescribed method to measure WBGT requires special equipment which is not used at weather stations. We compared published methods to calculate outdoor and indoor WBGT from standard climate data, such as air temperature, dew point temperature, wind speed and solar radiation. Specific criteria for recommending a method were developed and original measurements were used to evaluate the different methods. We recommend the method of Liljegren et al. (2008) for calculating outdoor WBGT and the method by Bernard etal. (1999) for indoor WBGT when estimating climate change impacts on occupational heat stress at a population level.
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| 3. |
- Tawatsupa, Benjawan, et al.
(författare)
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Association between occupational heat stress and kidney disease among 37 816 workers in the Thai Cohort Study (TCS)
- 2012
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Ingår i: Journal of Epidemiology. - : Japan Epidemiological Association. - 0917-5040 .- 1349-9092. ; 22:3, s. 251-260
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Background: We examined the relationship between self-reported occupational heat stress and incidence of self-reported doctor-diagnosed kidney disease in Thai workers.Methods: Data were derived from baseline (2005) and follow-up (2009) self-report questionnaires from a large national Thai Cohort Study (TCS). Analysis was restricted to full-time workers (n = 17 402 men and 20 414 women) without known kidney disease at baseline. We used logistic regression models to examine the association of incident kidney disease with heat stress at work, after adjustment for smoking, alcohol drinking, body mass index, and a large number of socioeconomic and demographic characteristics.Results: Exposure to heat stress was more common in men than in women (22% vs 15%). A significant association between heat stress and incident kidney disease was observed in men (adjusted odds ratio [OR] = 1.48, 95% CI: 1.01-2.16). The risk of kidney disease was higher among workers reporting workplace heat stress in both 2005 and 2009. Among men exposed to prolonged heat stress, the odds of developing kidney disease was 2.22 times that of men without such exposure (95% CI 1.48-3.35, P-trend <0.001). The incidence of kidney disease was even higher among men aged 35 years or older in a physical job: 2.2% exposed to prolonged heat stress developed kidney disease compared with 0.4% with no heat exposure (adjusted OR = 5.30, 95% CI 1.17-24.13).Conclusions: There is an association between self-reported occupational heat stress and self-reported doctor-diagnosed kidney disease in Thailand. The results indicate a need for occupational health interventions for heat stress among workers in tropical climates.
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| 4. |
- Tawatsupa, Benjawan, et al.
(författare)
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Heat stress, health and well-being : findings from a large national cohort of Thai adults
- 2012
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Ingår i: BMJ Open. - : BMJ. - 2044-6055. ; 2:6
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- OBJECTIVES: This study aims to examine the association between self-reported heat stress interference with daily activities (sleeping, work, travel, housework and exercise) and three graded-holistic health and well-being outcomes (energy, emotions and life satisfaction).DESIGN: A cross-sectional study.SETTING: The setting is tropical and developing countries as Thailand, where high temperature and high humidity are common, particularly during the hottest seasons.PARTICIPANTS: This study is based on an ongoing national Thai Cohort Study of distance-learning open-university adult students (N=60 569) established in 2005 to study the health-risk transition. PRIMARY AND SECONDARY OUTCOME MEASURES: Health impacts from heat stress in our study are categorised as physical health impacts (energy levels), mental health impacts (emotions) and well-being (life satisfaction). For each health and well-being outcome we report ORs and 95% CIs using multinomial logistic regression adjusting for a wide array of potential confounders.RESULTS: Negative health and well-being outcomes (low-energy level, emotional problems and low life satisfaction) associated with increasing frequency of heat stress interfering with daily activities. Adjusted ORs for emotional problems were between 1.5 and 4.8 and in general worse than energy level (between 1.31 and 2.91) and life satisfaction (between 1.10 and 2.49). The worst health outcomes were when heat interfered with sleeping, followed by interference with daily travel, work, housework and exercise.CONCLUSIONS: In tropical Thailand there already are substantial heat stress impacts on health and well-being. Increasing temperatures from climate change plus the ageing and urbanisation of the population could significantly worsen the situation. There is a need to improve public health surveillance and public awareness regarding the risks of heat stress in daily life.
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