White fingers, cold environment, and vibration – exposure among Swedish construction workers

Burström, Lage; Järvholm, Bengt; Nilsson, Tohr; Wahlström, Jens

doi:10.5271/sjweh.3072

Cited by 39 publications

(31 citation statements)

References 12 publications

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“…[9][10][11] Our study, to our knowledge, is the first population-based study that investigates the association between working in cold environment and risk of developing RA among healthy individuals.…”

Section: Rmd Openmentioning

confidence: 99%

Working in cold environment and risk of developing rheumatoid arthritis: results from the Swedish EIRA case–control study

et al. 2017

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ObjectivesTo investigate (1) whether working in cold environment (WCE) is associated with an increased risk of developing rheumatoid arthritis (RA) (overall), anticitrullinated protein antibody (ACPA)-positive RA and ACPA-negative RA and (2) whether WCE interacts with occupational physical workload in conferring RA risk.MethodsData from the Swedish population-based case-control study Epidemiological Investigation of Rheumatoid Arthritis involving 3659 incident cases and 5925 controls were analysed. Study participants were asked whether they had ever worked in cold/outdoor environment along with their exposure duration and frequency. Occurrence of RA among exposed and unexposed subjects were compared by calculating ORs with 95% CI using logistic regression. Additive interactions between WCE and six types of physical workload were assessed using the principle of departure from additivity by calculating attributable proportion due to interaction (AP).ResultsThe OR associated with having ever worked in cold environment was 1.5 (95% CI 1.4 to 1.7) for RA (overall), 1.6 (95% CI 1.4 to 1.8) for ACPA-positive RA and 1.4 (95% CI 1.2 to 1.6) for ACPA-negative RA. The risk of developing RA increased with increasing cumulative dose of working in cold indoor environment (p value <0.001), but not working in cold outdoor environment. Positive additive interaction was observed between WCE and repetitive hand/finger movements (AP 0.3 (95% CI 0.1 to 0.5)).ConclusionsWCE is associated with increased risk of developing both ACPA-positive and ACPA-negative RA. A dose–response relationship was found between working in cold indoor environment and risk of developing RA. Moderate additive interaction was observed between exposure to cold environment and exposure to repetitive hand/finger movements.

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Section: Rmd Openmentioning

confidence: 99%

Working in cold environment and risk of developing rheumatoid arthritis: results from the Swedish EIRA case–control study

et al. 2017

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“…For male construction workers in Sweden exposed to HAV, prevalence of WF of 13.4% has been reported. [14] In the present study there was prevalence of WF of 34% among men with noise-induced hearing loss who were exposed to HAV and the prevalence of VWF SR was 20%. There was a RR of 2.4 (95% CI; 1.2-4.6) for WF among participants who were exposed to HAV compared with participants not exposed to HAV.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 82%

“…Among Swedish male office workers not exposed to HAV prevalence of 8.4% for WF has been reported. [14] An earlier cross-sectional study on finger blanching found that there was an increased risk of hearing loss for men and women with finger blanching who were not extensively exposed to HAV or noise. [11] One could therefore speculate if WF is a trigger for noise-induced hearing loss.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 98%

“…[30,31] A cohort study found that HAV-exposed workers in the northern region of Sweden were at a higher risk of WF than workers in the southern region. [14] The effect of HAV on WF might be increased in cold environments. [14] Among participants in our study there was no increased risk of WF in the northern region compared with the southern region of Sweden.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 98%

“…[14] The effect of HAV on WF might be increased in cold environments. [14] Among participants in our study there was no increased risk of WF in the northern region compared with the southern region of Sweden.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 98%

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Raynaud′s phenomenon among men and women with noise-induced hearing loss in relation to vibration exposure

2014

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Raynaud's phenomenon is characterized by constriction in blood supply to the fingers causing finger blanching, of white fingers (WF) and is triggered by cold. Earlier studies found that workers using vibrating hand-held tools and who had vibration-induced white fingers (VWF) had an increased risk for hearing loss compared with workers without VWF. This study examined the occurrence of Raynaud's phenomenon among men and women with noise-induced hearing loss in relation to vibration exposure. All 342 participants had a confirmed noise-induced hearing loss medico legally accepted as work-related by AFA Insurance. Each subject answered a questionnaire concerning their health status and the kinds of exposures they had at the time when their hearing loss was first discovered. The questionnaire covered types of exposures, discomforts in the hands or fingers, diseases and medications affecting the blood circulation, the use of alcohol and tobacco and for women, the use of hormones and whether they had been pregnant. The participation rate was 41% (n = 133) with 38% (n = 94) for men and 50% (n = 39) for women. 84 men and 36 women specified if they had Raynaud's phenomenon and also if they had used hand-held vibrating machines. Nearly 41% of them had used hand-held vibrating machines and 18% had used vibrating machines at least 2 h each workday. There were 23 men/6 women with Raynaud's phenomenon. 37% reported WF among those participants who were exposed to hand-arm vibration (HAV) and 15% among those not exposed to HAV. Among the participants with hearing loss with daily use of vibrating hand-held tools more than twice as many reports WF compared with participants that did not use vibrating hand-held tools. This could be interpreted as Raynaud's phenomenon could be associated with an increased risk for noise-induced hearing loss. However, the low participation rate limits the generalization of the results from this study.

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Risk factors for Raynaud's phenomenon in the workforce

Ha¹,

Manac’h²,

Bodin³

et al. 2012

Arthritis Care & Research

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Objective. To assess the prevalence of and risk factors for Raynaud's phenomenon (RP) in a French working population characterized by various levels of exposure to work-related constraints. Methods. The study population comprised 3,710 workers (2,161 men and 1,549 women) who were followed up by 83 occupational physicians and were representative of the region's workforce. RP, as diagnosed by a questionnaire and a standardized interview, was defined as the occurrence of at least occasional attacks of finger blanching triggered by exposure to environmental cold during the previous 12 months. Personal factors and work exposure were assessed by self-administered questionnaires. The associations between RP and personal and occupational factors were analyzed using logistic regression modeling.

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White fingers, cold environment, and vibration – exposure among Swedish construction workers

Cited by 39 publications

References 12 publications

Working in cold environment and risk of developing rheumatoid arthritis: results from the Swedish EIRA case–control study

Working in cold environment and risk of developing rheumatoid arthritis: results from the Swedish EIRA case–control study

Raynaud′s phenomenon among men and women with noise-induced hearing loss in relation to vibration exposure

Risk factors for Raynaud's phenomenon in the workforce

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