Kari Kurppa

Incidence of occupational asthma by occupation and industry in Finland.

BACKGROUND Systematic research on occupation or industry-specific incidence of occupational asthma (OA) is sparse. We calculated the incidence of notified OA by occupation, industry and causative agent in Finland for the years 1989-95. METHODS The numbers of cases of reported OA were retrieved from the Finnish Registry of Occupational Diseases for the population between 20 and 64 years of age. The numbers of employed workers were retrieved from Statistics Finland. Incidence rates were calculated for each occupation, industry and the total workforce. RESULTS Altogether 2602 cases of OA were notified and the mean annual incidence rate was 17.4 cases/100,000 employed workers. The incidence rate was the highest in bakers, other painters and lacquerers, veterinary surgeons, chemical workers, farmers, animal husbandry workers, other food manufacturing workers, welders, plastic product workers, butchers and sausage makers, and floor layers. Cases caused by animal epithelia, hairs and secretions or flours, grains, and fodders accounted for 60% of the total. CONCLUSIONS Estimation of occupation and industry-specific incidence rates forms the basis for successful prevention of OA, but necessitates collection of data over several years from well-established surveillance systems.

Rheumatoid factor and HLA antigens in wrist tenosynovitis and humeral epicondylitis

A matched case-referent study was undertaken to assess whether rheumatoid factor (RF) is associated with repeating tenosynovitis or peritendinitis and whether HLA-B27 predisposes to epicondylitis. The study subjects consisted of 25 workers in manually strenuous jobs with a history of at least two episodes of tenosynovitis or peritendinitis in the wrist or forearm, or humeral epicondylitis, and their matched referents. The latex agglutination test was positive in seven of the 23 cases with tenosynovitis and in one of the referents (p = 0.03). The corresponding figures for IgM-RF by enzyme immunoassay were ten and two, respectively (p = 0.008). HLA-B27 antigen was found in five of the 13 workers with epicondylitis and in one worker with no such history (p = 0.13). It is possible that RF-positive repeating tenosynovitis represents an incomplete form of rheumatoid disease.

273 Underreporting of work injuries – estimating realistic statistics in the baltic sea countries

Background The Baltic Sea Network on Occupational Health and Safety (BSN) (Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, Northwest Russia, Norway, Poland, Sweden) has paid attention to a problem related to national monitoring systems that provide statistical indicators of work injuries. In Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, and the Russian Federation, the rates of fatal work injuries have been much higher than the EU-15 average. Yet, the incidence rates of non-fatal work injuries have been very low at the same time. A high rate of fatal work injuries in combination with a low rate of non-fatal work injuries suggests that much of the non-fatal work injuries remain unregistered. Underreporting of work injuries is known to be widespread in many countries. However, the actual size of underreporting has largely remained unquantified. The present study made an effort to estimate the order of magnitude and the level of reporting of non-fatal work injuries (>3 days absence from work) in the BSN countries. Methods Semi-quantitative analyses were conducted based on official statistical indicators that the national authorities had submitted to the International Labour Organisation between 2003 and 2007. Statistical indicators from Finland, Germany, and the EU-15 average were used as benchmarks against which the indicator data of work injuries of other countries were compared. The analyses used two separate schemes of semi-quantitative estimation and three different benchmark countries or regions. Results The results indicated that in several BSN countries the reporting of non-fatal work injuries was less than 10 to 20% of the estimated true level. Conclusions The decision makers of several countries may have at their disposal very deceptive statistical information when setting policy objectives, estimating economical loss, or defining priorities on the national agenda.