ABSTRACT
Background Immigrant health is an key node in achieving the goal of universal health coverage proposed by 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. The shock of severe public health emergency may exacerbate the original health-related contradictions of this group and bring more negative health effects. Objective To identify academic research hotspots and directions of immigrant health, and to examine trends in research hotspots before and after the public health emergency, so as to provide references to study immigrant health and response to public health emergency in the future. Methods Articles (document type) included in Web of Science core collection from 2017-01-01 to 2022-12-31 were retrieved. Microsoft Excel 2019 was used for descriptive analysis of included papers. VOSviewer 1.6.19 and CiteSpace 6.1.R6 were combined to draw cooperation maps of authors, institutions, and countries/areas to understand their cooperation and communication, and to draw keywords co-occurrence map, keywords clusters map, and keywords burst map to examine the hotspots and trends of immigrant health research before and after public health emergency. Results A total of 5997 papers pertaining to immigrant health from 2017 to 2022 were included, and the number of publications every year were overall on the rise generating a group of productive core authors. Institutions from the United States, Canada, and Northern Europe not only tightly cooperated within their countries/areas, but also cooperated frequently among countries/areas, forming an international cooperation network with the United States as its core. The keywords co-occurrence map showed that from 2017 to 2022, the research hotspots of immigrant health mainly focused on target groups of women, children, and refugees, and the study topics of mental health, acculturation, and care. The results of cluster analysis and further extraction found that the research topics in this field were divided into five categories: maternal and child health care, acculturation and mental health, health services, health equity, and chronic disease. The keywords burst map revealed that the research hotspots shifted from ethnic group, risk behavior, and sexes to COVID-19, health equity, social isolation, and victimization under the impact of public health emergency. Conclusion The cooperation and communication among study teams, institutions, and countries/areas have promoted the development of immigrant health study. Public health emergency has exacerbated the existing vulnerability of immigrants, and the topics related to health equity and social isolation of immigrants have raised attention becoming the research forefront. It is suggested that under the impact of public health emergency, corresponding public health policies are needed to mitigate health inequities and social support is also required for immigrants to ensure their physical and mental health.
ABSTRACT
Radar uses electromagnetic waves to detect， track and locate objects at certain distances， which is widely used in military， meteorological， navigation and other fields. Radar emits electromagnetic waves outward and produces non-ionizing radiation， which may be considered as a physical occupational hazard. Epidemiological surveys found that long-term exposure to radar is associated with various adverse health effects， which may be correlated to transmitted power and frequency of radar， location of radar antenna， position of workers， and shielding effectiveness of cabins where work station is located. Based on radar frequency and electromagnetic radiation intensity， this study summarizes the health effects of radar on occupational population exposed to radar.
ABSTRACT
Background As traditional chemical and physical hazards as well as associated adverse health outcomes in workplace were wildly controlled in the past half century, the prevalence and disease burden of low back pain (LBP) have drawn more and more attention and become one of the important public health problems in the world. Objective To analyze the health loss and attributable disease burden of ergonomic risk factors for LBP in two major categories of occupations in China, aiming to provide evidence for formulating effective prevention and control policies of LBP in the workplace. Methods Based on the methodological framework of the Global Burden of Disease Study (GBD), a meta-analysis was firstly applied to summarize relevant literature results and estimate the prevalence of LBP in two occupational groups (including technicians and associate professionals and machine operators and assemblers) by different age groups in China. Then important epidemiologic parameters (including disability weight, remission rate, and incidence) from GBD 2019 were used to estimate mean duration of disease and age at onset using DisMod II software, and to calculate health loss indexes in the selected occupational groups in China in 2013, such as years lived with disability (YLD) and disability-adjusted life year (DALY) of LBP and its attributable fractions by ergonomic risk factors, which were compared to the outcome of GBD 2013. Results After the adjustment by DisMod II, the prevalence rate of LBP was 13.00% in technicians and associate professionals (11.25% for males and 14.84% for females) and 14.80% in machine operators and assemblers (13.56% for males and 16.10% for females) in 2013, which increased with age. The DALY rate of LBP was 8.02‰ in technicians and associate professionals (7.68‰ for males and 8.33‰ for females) and 10.34‰ in machine operators and assemblers (10.30‰ for males and 10.44‰ for females), which also showed an overall increasing trend with age. In 2013, the population attributable fraction (PAF) of ergonomic risk factors to LBP was 11.42% in technicians and associate professionals and 29.17% in machine operators and assemblers. The DALY of LBP attributable to ergonomics risk factors was 4498 person-years (2108 person-years for males), with the highest DALY in the 45-49 year group (951 person-years), and the attributable DALY rate was 0.92‰ in technicians and associate professionals. The DALY of LBP attributable to ergonomics risk factors was 48529 person-years (33046 person-years for males), with the highest DALY in the 40-44 year group (10852 person-years), and the attributable DALY rate was 3.02‰ in machine operators and assemblers. Regarding LBP-associated DALY rate, in the 20 years of age and above group, both occupational groups (technicians and associate professionals: 8.06‰, machine operators and assemblers: 10.66‰) showed higher values than the general population (3.55‰). In the 20 years of age and above group, the DALY rates attributable to ergonomic risk factors with the order from high to low were machine operators and assemblers (3.11‰), general population (1.10‰) and technicians and associate professionals (0.92‰). Conclusion The LBP-associated disease burden is heavier in the two Chinese occupational groups than in general population. Reducing the disease burden of LBP by interventions targeting ergonomic risk factors in machine operators and assemblers is more effective than that in technicians and associate professionals as the results of attributable burden of disease suggest.
ABSTRACT
Microplastics refer to plastic particles with a diameter of less than 5 mm. Because of their wide distribution in the environment, it has gradually become one of the environmental hot issues of global concern in recent years. Microplastics are characterized by small particle size and strong adsorption. Existing studies have confirmed the biotoxic effects of microplastics in marine organisms and in experimental animals, suggesting their potential harm to human health. However, there have been few studies on the effects of microplastics on human health, and the research results have been inconsistent. Therefore, by summarizing the recent domestic and foreign studies about human exposure to microplastics as well as their potential effects on human body, this paper provides ideas and theoretical basis for further exploring the effects of microplastics on human health and related mechanisms.