Objective The present investigation examined whether increased overtime work predicts inlpairment in cognitive performance in the domains of attention, executive function, and mood. Methods The behavioral and cognitive functions of 248 automotive workers were measured by a neurobehavioral test performance. Overtime, defined as number of hours worked greater than 8 11 a day or greater than 5 d a week, was calculated from company payroll records for the week before the test day. The number of consecutive days worked before the test day was also determined. Results Cross-sectional data analysis by multiple linear regression, after adjustment for the effects of age, education, gender, alcohol intake, repeated grade in school, acute petroleu~n naphtha exposure, shift worked, job type, number of consecutive days worked before the test day, and number of hours worlied on the test day before the testing, demonstrated that increased overtime was significantly associated with impaired performance on several tests of attention and executive function. Increased feelings of depression, fatigue, and conf~~sion were also associated with increased overtime work. In addition significant interaction effects were observed for job type but not for naphtha exposure. C O f l c l~~i O f l~The findings support the hypothesis that overtime work results in impaired cognitive performance in the areas of attention and executive function and that both overtime hours and the number of consecutive days worlied prior to a test day affect mood.

This study aimed to determine the prevalence of respiratory morbidity among asbestos‐exposed ironworkers and to determine the relationship between respiratory morbidity indices and length of exposure. A medical screening provided information on chest radiographic abnormalities, pulmonary function, rales, finger clubbing, and respiratory symptoms for 547 asbestos‐exposed ironworkers. Union pension records furnished data on length of exposure. The study group exhibited an increased prevalence of small irregular opacities, pleural plaques, and pleural thickening on chest x‐ray; reduced FEF25–75; rales; and respiratory symptoms. After controlling for the effect of cigarette smoking and age, years since joining the ironworkers union were significantly associated with profusion, pleural thickening, pleural plaques, rales, percent predicted FVC, reduced FVC, reduced FEV1, reduced FEV1/FVC, and dyspnea grades I, II, III, and IV. © 1996 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.

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