Analysis of Occupational Diseases Compensated with the Industrial Accident Compensation Insurance from 2001 to 2003 / 대한산업의학회지

AIMS: The purpose of this study is to analyze the characteristics of the occupational diseases compensated with the Industrial Accident Compensation Insurance that is operated by the Korea Labor Welfare Corporation (KLWC). METHODS: Using the KLWC database, we collected 4,240 cases of compensated occupational disease occurring between 1 January 2001 and 31 December 2003. We analyzed the characteristics (sex, age, type of occupational disease, exposure material, type of industry and occupation, etc.) of occupational diseases using the KLWC electronic data and compensated with the data of claimed cases investigated by the Korea Occupational Safety and Health Agency (KOSHA). RESULTS: KLWC approved 4,240 cases, including 1,199 deaths (28.3%). Men accounted for 92.6% (3,925 cases) of the approved cases. The most common age group was 50-59 years of age (n=1,433, 33.8%). The majority of diseases were respiratory diseases (2,906 cases, 68.5%), occupational hearing loss (687 cases, 16.2%), infectious disease (238 cases, 5.6%), intoxication (117 cases, 2.8%), skin diseases (111 cases, 2.6%) and cancer (41 cases, 1.0%). The causal hazardous agents were dust (2,870 cases, 67.7%), physical agents (770 cases, 18.2%), biological agents (301 cases, 7.1%), chemical agents (242 cases, 5.7%), and heavy metals (51 cases, 1.2%). The major types of industry were mining and quarrying (2,708 cases, 63.9%), manufacturing (1,112 cases, 26.2%), health and social work (159 cases, 3.8%) and construction (63 cases, 1.5%). The type of occupation included craft and related trades workers (2,622 cases, 61.8%), elementary occupations (730 cases, 17.2%), senior officials and managers (327 cases, 7.7%) and plant and machine operators and assemblers (225 cases, 5.3%). CONCLUSIONS: We were able to elucidate the kinds of occupational disease and the characteristics of workers through this study. Many compensation cases occurred among non-manufacturing and non-mining workers, especially health care workers, and there were various kinds of disease. This suggests that a management policy must be established to prevent occupational diseases occurring among workers in the above types of industry.

Urinary 2-Ethoxyacetic Acid for Biological Monitoring of Workers Exposed to 2-Ethoxyethyl Acetate / 대한산업의학회지

This study was carried out to evaluate the association between urinary 2-ethoxyacetic acid(EAA) as a new indicator of biological monitoring for the workers exposed to 2-etho xyethyl acetate(EEA) and independent variables such as the EEA exposure concentration, exposure dose, total EEA absorption amount, work duration, and alcohol consumption. In this study the subjects were the total of 160 drawn from 75 workers who were occupationally exposed to EEA and 85 workers who were not. The results were as follows: 1. In the electronic painting workplace, EEA exposure concentration in the breathing zone of the spray workers was the highest, as showed 2. 88ppm(0. 01-15.1 ppm) and cases of exceeded threshold limit value(TLV = 5ppm) were 12.0% among the total of 75 exposed workers. 2. Four workers(5. 4%) of exposed workers indicated more than 50.0 mg/g creatinine of urinary EAA, the geometric mean urinary EAA in exposed workers was 2.49 mg/g creatinine, and was higher than that of workers who were not exposed. 3. In the spray workers of auto products, the geometric mean of urinary BAA was the highest showing 5.76 mg/g creatinine. 4. The difference of urinary BAA by EEA exposure level was significant and the correlation coefficient between urinary BAA and EEA in air was the highest showing 0. 53O(p < 0.01). In conclusion, the amount of urianry EAA proved to be a good parameter for biological monitoring of workers exposed to EEA.

A Study on the Reference Value of Erythrocyte Pyrimidine 5'-Nueleotidase Activity / 대한산업의학회지

For the purpose of determining the reference value of erythrocyte pyrimidine 5'-nucleotidase (P5N) activity as a biological indicator to lead exposure, this study was conducted on the total of 225 healthy men who had not been exposed to lead occupationally, in July, 1994. The parameters selected in this study were age, hemoglobin, hematocrit, number of red blood cell, mean corpuscular hemoglobin (MCH), mean corpuscular herloglobin concentration (MCHC), blood lead, and erythrocyte P5N activity. The blood lead concentrations were measured using a flameless atomic absorption spectrophotometer, and erythrocyte P5N activities by Sakai's simple method using a HPLC(1986). The results were obtaina as follows; 1. The distribution of blood lead concentrations revealed log-normal distribution, and geometric mean and standard deviation of blood lead were 4.09 microgram/dl and 1.55 microgram/dl, respectively. 2. The erythrocyte P5N activity showed normal distribution, and the mean and standard deviation of the erythroeyte P5N activity were 12.34 umole uridine/h/g Hb and 2.21 umole uridine/h/g Hb, respectively. 3. All of the selected variables including blood lead concentration did not affect the erythrocyte P5N activity. Although the erythrocyte P5N activities were negatively associated with blood lead level, the correlation coefficient was not statistically significant. 4. From the result of this study, 8.7 micromole uridine/h/g Hb was obtained as a reference value of erythrocyte pyrimidine 5'-nucleotidase activity for the healthy adult male who had not been exposed to lead occupationally.

Urinary beta-Galactosidase Activity as an Early Indicator of Renal Dysfunction in Workers Exposed to Mercury Vapor / 대한산업의학회지

The objective of this study was to evaluate the relationship between beta-galactosidase activity in urine, in serum and urinary N-acetyl-beta-glucosarminidase activity as an early indicator of renal effect and mercurT concentration in urine and blood, reflecting the intensity of exposure to or the amount of body burden of mercury. This study was carried out among 70 workers exposed to mercury vapor and 63 non-exposed workers as a reference. The results were as follows ; 1. The mean concentration of urinary mercury (43.5 microgram/1) in exposed subjects was about nine times higher than that of non-exposed subjects, but the mean values of blood mercury were not different from each other 2. The mean values of beta-galactosidase activity in urine (119.7micromoleMU/h/g creatinine) and in blood (73.7 moIMU/H/l) of mercury-exposed subjects were significantly higher than those of non-exposed subjects. 3. In mercury-exposed subjects, beta-galactosidase activities in urine (r=0.38, p<0.01) and in serum (r=0.26, p<0.05) were correlated to urinary mercury concentration, but not to blood mercury concentration. The urinary excretion of beta-galactosidase activity was closely associated with urinary mercury concentration in the result of the multiple regression analysis. 4. The urinary beta-galactosidase activity in exposed subjects increased as the urinary mercury increased, and in the exposed subjects with more than 50microgram/1 of urinary mercury was highly related to urinary beta-galactosidase activity(r=0.47, p<0.05). 5. Among exposed subjects with more than 50microgram/l of urinary mercury, 20.0% of them showed abnormal value of urinary beta-galactosidase activity.

Development of Technology for Environmental Assessment and Biological Monitoring of Workers Exposed to Benzene / 대한산업의학회지

The objective of this study were to evaluate a correlation between airborne benzene concentrations and urinary muconic acid and to evaluate that between airborne benzene concentrations and urinary phenol concentrations. The high performance chromatographic method was used to measure the muconic acid concentrations in urine samples collected from 69 workers exposed to benzene and 155 non-exposed workers. The time weighted average benzene concentrations in breathing zone of workers were also determined. The physical examination and blood counts (hemoglobin, hematocrit, red blood cell, and white blood cell) were made for both workers exposed to benzene and control group. The results are as follows; 1. The geometric mean of airborne benzene concentrations for all workers was 2.0ppm (0.1-56.9ppm). The mean airborne benzene concentration of workers in adhesive tape manufacturing industry was 12.2ppm (8.3-56.9ppm), which was the highest by type of industry. 2. The geometric mean concentration of muconic acid in urine from male workers exposed to benzene was 3.9 mg/l (0.8-40.8 mg/l), which was significantly higher than that of non-exposed workers. The highest muconic acid concentration was indicated in the workers at the adhesive tape manufacturing industry. 3. There was a significant difference between the mean concentration of muconic acid of workers exposed to airborne benzene concentration of 5-10 pm and that of workers exposed to concentrations below 5 ppm. The urinary muconic acid concentration were correlated with airborne benzene concentration for workers (r=0.85). However there was no significant correlation between urinary phenol concentrations and airborne benzene concentrations. 4. The correlation coefficients between the urinary muconic acid concentration and airborne benzene concentration, urinary phenol concentration, exposure dose(airborne benzene concentration x work duration) and white blood cell were 0.85, 0.74, 0.63 and -0.33, respectively.

The study on the urinary N-acetyl-?glucosaminidase concentrations as a early renal injury index in workers exposed to lead, mercury and organic solvents / 대한산업의학회지

No abstract available.

A study on the mercury contamination sources and risk for occupational mercury poisoning of mercury exposed workers in Korea / 대한산업의학회지

No abstract available.

A study on the correlation between the lead concentration in air and in blood among lead workers / 대한산업의학회지

No abstract available.

Mercury Concentration in air and in Urine of Workers in Fluorescent Lamp Manufacturing Factories in Korea / 대한산업의학회지

This research was conducted to investigate the correlations between urinary mercury concentration and each independent variable related with urinary mercury levels. the urinary mercury concentrations of 543 workers exposed to metal mercury vapor in a total of 11 fluorescent lamp manufacturing factories and at the same time mercury concentrations in air were measured from June 1989 to December 1989. And annually mercury consumption per workers, mercury consumption per lamp, numbers of breakage lamps, frequency of mercury infusion, numbers of droppers, and numbers of vacuum exhaustion pumps were also investigated. The results were as follows: 1. The geometric mean of airborne mercury concentration in a total of 11 factories was 47.9 microgram/m3 (5.8~352.2 microgram/m3), six factories(54.5%) of them were exceed the threshold limit value(50.0 microgram/m3). 2. The geometric mean of urinary mercury concentration among 543 workers was 84.3 microgram/l (1.13~533.9 microgram/l), the distribution of workers by urinary mercury concentration showed that 26 workers(4.8%) were above the mercury posioning level(300 microgram/l). 3. The correlation coefficient between urinary mercury concentration and monthly numbers of breakage lamps was the highest(0.74) and next was mercury consumption per lamp (0.67), annually mercury consumption per worker(0.63) in order.

A Study on the Associatio Between Symptoms and Biological Indicies in Workers Exposed to Lead / 대한산업의학회지

This research was conducted to determine the usefulness of reported symptoms for the diagnosis of lead poisoning for workers exposed to lead. A group of 147 male lead smelting workers were given special physical examinations from June to September of 1989. The examinations included the reporting of ailments(symptoms) by the workers, as well as analyses of their blood lead concentrations and urinary coproporphyrine and delta-aminolevulinic acid concentrations. the associations were analyzed between the bilogical exposure indices and the symptoms described by the workers. The results were as follows: 1. The only symptoms which were described more frequently by the lead workers compared to the control group were paresthesia of the extremities, myalgia, arthralgia, and insomnia. The frequency of other symptoms described were actually lower for the lead-exposed workers. 2. For those workers whose blood lead concentrations were above 60 microgram/dl, only the increase in the frequencies of arthralgia and paresthesia of the xtremities were statistically significant, compared to those workers whose blood lead concentrations were below 60 microgram/dl. Also, arthralgia was the only symptom which increased in frequency in workers whose ruinary coproporphyrine concentrations were above 100 microgram/l; however, this increase was not statistically significant by urinary delta-aminolevulinic acid levels.

An Investigation of Mercury Contamination Soures in Fluorescent Lamp Manufacturing Industries in Korea / 대한산업의학회지

This research was conducted to study the correlations between the airborne mercury concentration and each independent variable to detect the source of mercury contamination in a total or II fluorescent lamp manufacturing factories- The mercury concentraion in air was measured and informations about production management (operation hour, overtime, vacuum exhaustion system, number of droppers, number of vacuum exhaustion pumps, frequency of mercury infusion, mercury consumption per lamp, number of lamps producted, number of inferior lamps producted, number of breakage lamps, local exhaust ventilation system) were collected from January 1988 to March 1989. The results were as follows: 1. Among the airborne mercury concentrations according to the sampling point the highest mean concentration was 0.162mg/m3(0.016-0.635 mg/m3) at the workplace floor, and 0.074 mg/m3 at the vaccum exhaustion pump site, and 0.06 mg/m3 at the breathing zone in order. 2. The correlation between airborne mercury concentration and each Independent variable was significant in a following order; the number of Inferior lamps productedt(0.485), vacuum exhaustion syatem(-0,405), number of breakage lamps (0.344), operation hourl(0.341), number of vacuum exhaustion pumps(0.337) and local exhaust ventilation systern(0.331). 3. The result of stepwise multiple regression analysis showed that the airborne mercury consumption was affected by number of inferior lamps producted, frequency of mercury infusion, overtime, ventilator, mercury consumption amounts per lamp, local exhaust ventilation system in order. And these six variables explained 36.7% of the variance of airborne mercury concentration.

A Study on the Effect of Improvement in Work Environment and of Segregation in a Fluorescent Lamp Manufacturing Factory / 예방의학회지

This research was conducted to evaluate the effect of improvement in work environment and of segregation in a fluorescent lamp manufacturing factory. Among the total of 80 workers, 8 workers whose mercury concentration in urine reached a hazardous level (200-299 microgram/l) were moved to mercury free workplace. The follow-up examination for their mercury concentration in urine was done three times; on May 3, 1988, September 1, 1988 and April 3, 1989. The results were as follows: 1. Mercury concentration in the air was reduced from 0.140 to 0.107 mg/m3 in 4 months, and to 0.087 mg/m3 in one year after environmental improvement in workplace. However the level still exceeded the Threshold Limit Value. 2. The geometric mean of urinary mercury concentration among 80 workers was 173.0 microgram/l (5.1~458.6 microgram/l). The distribution of workers according to urinary mercury concentration showed that 9 workers (11.2%) were above the mercury poisoning level (300 microgram/l), 24 workers (30.0%) were 200-299 microgram/l, 35 workers (43.8%) were 50-199 microgram/l, and 12 workers (15.0%) were below 50 microgram/l. 3. Among the 24 workers whose urinary mercury concentration was 200-299 microgram/l, 8 were able to be followed up. Their mean urinary mercury concentration before segregation was 244.9 microgram/l, but decreased to 151.4 microgram/l in four months, 128.8 microgram/l in six months, and 46.8 microgram/l in one year after segregation.

Mercury Concentration in Air and in Urine of Workers in A Fluorescent Lamp Manufacturing Factory / 대한산업의학회지

In order In interpret the relationship among many variables, urinary mercury and at the same time mercury concentration in air were measured for 254 workers of a fluorescent lamp manufacturing factory. And monthly mercury consumption amounts, numbers of monthly producing fluorescent lamps, numbers of inferior lamps and numbers of breakage lamps, numbers of vacuum exhaustion pumps and frequencies of mercury infusion were also investigated from January 1988 to March in 1989. The results were as follows; 1. On the mercury concentration in air by producing line and by working site, all of them were exceed the threshold limit value (0.05mg/m(2)). 2. The highest mercury concentration in air by sampling point was found at the floor of workplace (0.334mg/m(2)) and next were at vacuum exhaustion pimp (0.183mg/m(2)), and breathing zone of workers (0.103mg/m(2)) in order. 3. The highest mean of the mercury concentration in urine by producing line was the automatic exhausting line (80.8microgram/1) and next were high speed exhausting line (72.4microgram/1), and Manual exhausting line (35.8microgram/1) in order. Distribution of workers of the mercury concentration in urine more than 200microgram/1 by working site was the highest (10%) in the vacuum exhaustion pump part and next were sealing part (6.6%), packing part (4.6%), and stem part (4.1%) in order. 4. The correlation coefficient between mercury concentration in urine and in air was the highest (0.302) and next were numbers of breakage lamps (0.223), frequencies of mercury infusion (0.223), numbers of inferior lamps (0.205) in order.

A Study of Knowledge, Attitude, and Practice Relative to Maternal and Child Health Among Women Residing in Apartments at Younsei Community Health Area / 예방의학회지

A study of the knowledge, attitude and practices about the maternal and child health of 305 married women residing in apartments at the Yonsei community Health area was conducted during the period from November to December 1970 using designed questionnaire with well trained interviews. The results and findings obtained from the study are summarized as follows : A. Pregnancy and Birth. Questions were asked about their last child. 1. 16.4% of the women were pregnant. 2. Among 281 women who hand experienced delivery, 48.0% were assisted by doctor or midwives for their last delivery, while the rest of women delivered their last baby at home without any professional's assistance. The higher the level of education or the greater exposure to mass communication, the more the deliveries were assisted by doctors or midwives. Those women who were born and raised in cities had more deliveries assisted by doctors and midwives than those who were not. 3. Kinds of delivery sheets used. Among 141 cases of home delivery 68% used cement bag paper or vinyl sheets. Three% used nothing and remained used unsterile materials. 4. Among 141 cases of home delivery, 70.2% used scissors. The rest of them used other methods. 5. 47.3% of the women had a rest for one month or more after birth. The higher the level of education, the longer the period of rest was observed. 6. 52.4% of the women fed the colostrum to their babies. This was not related to the mother's education. 7. About half(42.9%) of the women had poor knowledge about a proper diet for the pre and post natal period. B. Child Health. 1. Knowledge and practice regarding to the immunization for their children : Most of the women (93.2%) could name at least one kind of immunization. 20.3% could name 6 kinds of immunization. Mothers education level did not influence their ability to name immunizations. 85.2% of children had been immunized at least once. 2. Morbidity of last born children : 48.1% of their last born children were found to have been sick during the last year. Less than half (41.5%) of the sick children were seen by doctor. 3. Counselling at well baby clinic : most of the women (76.5%) had no counselling for their children. Registration rate at the well baby clinic at the Severance Hospital was 13.2%. 45.9% wanted to visit to the well baby clinic at the Severance Hospital. 4. Weaning Period : 44.6% said that the beginning of the weaning for their last born children was from 6 months to twelve months of age. The most important reason of weaning was the health of both mothers and children. 5. Knowledge and Practice regarding birth and death Registration : 64.6% of the women could name correctly the Ku-office as the place for the registration. Only 29.2% registered the birth of their last born children within 14 days. C. Knowledge, Attitude and Practice regarding to family planning Most : of the women accepted the idea of family planning. 97.7% could name at least one contraceptive method. 35.4% were found to be current users of countraceptive methods. The ideal number of children was 3.1 in average.