OBJECTIVE: To assess and compare the RQoL of the occupationally exposed (firefighters and traffic police) and the occupationally unexposed populations in Penang, Malaysia.
METHODS: We recruited male traffic police and firefighters from 5 districts of Penang by convenient sampling during June to September 2018. Participants completed the SGRQ. Scores (symptoms, activity, impacts, total) were derived using a scoring calculator. Higher scores indicate poorer RQoL. Univariate and multivariate linear regression models were fitted to explore the relationship of the independent predictive factors with participants' RQoL.
RESULTS: We recruited 706 participants---211 firefighters, 198 traffic police, and 297 from general population. Smokers had significantly higher scores than non-smokers in all SGRQ domains. Regardless of smoking status, the "occupationally exposed group" had higher symptoms score than the "occupationally unexposed group," who had higher activity and impact scores. Smoking status, comorbidity status and monthly income were significant independent predictors of SGRQ total score.
CONCLUSION: In comparison with the general population, firefighters and traffic police reported poorer RQoL; smoking further deteriorated their respiratory health. There is a need to strengthen preventive health measures against occupational disease and smoking cessation among firefighters and traffic police.
METHODS: We conducted a series medical examinations among the forestry, construction and automobile industry workers in Malaysia adopting the compulsory medical examination procedure used by Wakayama Medical University for Japanese vibratory tools workers. We matched the duration of vibration exposure and compared our results against the Japanese workers. We also compared the results of the Malaysian tree fellers against a group of symptomatic Japanese tree fellers diagnosed with HAVS.
RESULTS: Malaysian subjects reported a similar prevalence of finger tingling, numbness and dullness (Malaysian=25.0%, Japanese=21.5%, p=0.444) but had a lower finger skin temperature (FST) and higher vibrotactile perception threshold (VPT) values as compared with the Japanese workers. No white finger was reported in Malaysian subjects. The FST and VPT of the Malaysian tree fellers were at least as bad as the Japanese tree fellers despite a shorter duration (mean difference=20.12 years, 95%CI=14.50, 25.40) of vibration exposure.
CONCLUSIONS: Although the vascular disorder does not manifest clinically in the tropical environment, the severity of HAVS can be as bad as in the temperate environment with predominantly neurological disorder. Hence, it is essential to formulate national legislation for the control of the occupational vibration exposure.
OBJECTIVE: The objectives of this paper are to gain a better understanding of the key presenting symptoms of COVID-19 in HCWs in a district specialist hospital, to establish the proportion of symptomatic COVID-19 cases among HCWs and its severity and to determine the time taken from onset of symptoms or perceived exposure to diagnostic testing.
METHODOLOGY: This is a retrospective descriptive analysis of clinical characteristics of subjects infected with COVID-19 among HCW in HTI. Their demography and clinical characteristics were recorded.
RESULTS: There were 47 HCW in HTI who tested positive for COVID-19. The mean age of the patients was 37.5 years old. 7 patients (15.2%) had at least more than one comorbidity. Average duration of time from perceived close contact to onset of symptom was 4.5 days, while the mean duration of time from symptoms to first positive RT-PCR result was 3.4 days. Six patients (13.0%) were asymptomatic throughout, whereas 40 (87.0%) had at least one symptom prior to hospitalization. The most commonly reported symptoms were fever (65.2%), sore throat (39.1%) and cough (37.0%). In terms of severity of symptoms, the majority of patients experienced mild symptoms (Group 2, 52.2%). Two patients (4.3%) with multiple comorbidities had severe disease requiring ICU admission and mechanical ventilation. There were no mortalities, and the longest staying patient was hospitalized for 18 days. The high rates of infectivity among HCW in HTI can be attributed to working in close proximity while in the asymptomatic incubation phase, while no HCW directly involved in the care of COVID-19 positive patients were tested positive.
CONCLUSION: We report that HCW share similar clinical characteristics of COVID-19 infection as those of non HCW patients in earlier studies. The infection can spread rapidly within healthcare settings via close contacts among infected HCWs. As such, we advocate distancing when working and usage of personal protective equipment when treating patients with respiratory illness to reduce transmission of COVID-19.