In this cross-sectional study 110 physicians, 151 nurses and 89 housekeepers were interviewed using a pre-designed questionnaire. Housekeepers were significantly more knowledgeable than physicians or nurses about hospital policies and systems for waste disposal, but less so about specific details of disposal. Housekeepers also had the highest overall scores for attitudes to waste disposal among the 3 groups. Significantly more nurses had satisfactory practice scores (84.0%) than did physicians (67.3%) (housekeepers were not assessed). Training and duration of work experience were not significantly associated with knowledge, attitude and practice scores, except for nurses with longer work experience, who were more likely to have satisfactory knowledge about waste disposal than less experienced nurses.

Background: Low back pain (LBP) is the commonest form of work-related musculoskeletal disorders, which cause huge economic losses to individuals as well as to the community. Bus drivers have been found to be at an increased risk of LBP owing to several factors associated with physical and occupational circumstances. There is scant knowledge on the problems of LBP among bus drivers in Egypt. Aim: To identify the prevalence of LBP among bus drivers and to determine the ergonomic and occupational risk factors associated with this problem. Materials and Methods: This is a cross-sectional study including 180 public bus drivers who were interviewed using a questionnaire containing items on some sociodemographic, ergonomic, and occupational characteristics. Lifestyle risk factors such as BMI and history of tobacco smoking were also included in the questionnaire. Results: The prevalence of LBP was high (73.9%). LBP was significantly associated with work duration of more than 10 years, working more than 8 h/day and more number of accidents while driving the bus in the previous year. Regarding ergonomic risk factors, those complaining of uncomfortable seat and steering wheels showed significantly higher prevalence of LBP. Conclusion: Public bus drivers in this study experienced high prevalence of LBP, which was associated with long duration of work, driving for more than 8 h daily and uncomfortable seat and steering wheels. Ergonomic and occupational risk factors associated with LBP can be modified by proper organizational strategies and health plans. Therefore, assessment of the sitting biomechanics and regular maintenance of buses are recommended to prevent any adverse health effects.

Introduction Health literacy is an important determinant of health. The aim of this study was to use a multi-dimensional measurement tool to describe the health literacy of people living in a fishing community in northern Egypt. Methods and analysis Data were collected from 436 people (fisherman and their families), using the Health Literacy Questionnaire (HLQ), which includes 9 scales. Effect sizes (ES) for standardized mean differences estimated the magnitude of difference between demographic groups. Results The mean age of participants was 42 years, 50% were male, 42% were working in the fishing sector, 17.9% had access to the Internet and 36.8% were illiterate. Male participants showed higher capabilities in scales 3 . Actively managing my health and 4 . Social support for health (ES = 0.21 and 0.27, respectively). In comparison to other occupations, fishing occupation had a negative impact on scale 7 . Navigating the healthcare system (ES -0.23). Also, higher educational level was associated with higher HLQ indicators. Across all scales, scale 2 . Having sufficient information to manage my health showed the lowest mean (SD) score; 2.23 (0.76) indicating that most people reported they didn’t have enough information. Conclusions This study has revealed that fishermen and their families have a wide range of health literacy difficulties which are likely to have profound negative effects on health behavior and health outcomes.

Background: Driving buses exposes the drivers to many stressors that can increase their cardiovascular risk factors. Aims: The objective of this study was to measure the prevalence of workplace stress and its association with cardiovascular risk factors among bus drivers in Egypt. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted on 234 bus drivers in Cairo, Egypt. Data were collected over a period of 6 months from August 2016 to January 2017. For all drivers, blood pressure, body weight and height and random blood sugar were measured. Professional driving duration/age ratio was calculated. Comparison between cardiovascular risk factors and workplace stress score was made. Unadjusted and adjusted odds ratios and 95% confidence intervals were calculated using logistic regression models. Results: A high prevalence of workplace stress (83.3%) was observed among bus drivers. Moreover, a high prevalence of cardiovascular risk factors, particularly tobacco smoking (65.0%), physical inactivity (93.6%) and hypertension (33.3%), was noted. After adjustment for age and other confounding factors, the risk factors associated with workplace stress were overweight/obesity and hypertension. Conclusions: There is a positive association between workplace stress and some cardiovascular risk factors, such as hypertension and overweight/obesity, among bus drivers in Egypt.

SBS was highly prevalent among office workers and was influenced by physical and psychosocial working conditions. Good ventilation, reducing room temperature, effective cleaning routines, providing proper lighting, restricting smoking in the workplace, and improving psychosocial working conditions are important ways to reduce SBS symptoms.