Analyses on the characteristics and the trends of pneumoconiosis notified between 1997 and 2009, in China / 中华劳动卫生职业病杂志

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To describe the incidence of pneumoconiosis reported in China from 1997 to 2009 and investigate the epidemiological trends and characteristics of pneumoconiosis, and to provide basic data for formulating the guidelines and policies for control of pneumoconiosis, research on pneumoconiosis, and establishing the time series model for monitoring and early warning of pneumoconiosis.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>The national database of new cases of pneumoconiosis reported from 1997 to 2009 was subjected to systematic arrangement, descriptive analysis, and trend test using SPSS 15.0. The statistical indices included number of new pneumoconiosis cases in each year, types of pneumoconiosis, regional and industrial distributions of pneumoconiosis cases, work types of pneumoconiosis cases, and the annual changes in mean length of service and mean age at the onset of pneumoconiosis.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>From 1997 to 2009, a total of 122 333 new cases of pneumoconiosis were reported; the number of new cases increased since 1998, but fell to 7620 in 2003, and then it increased again to a maximum of 12 492 in 2009. Of all patients, 87.5% were cases of coal-workers' pneumoconiosis and silicosis; 54 068 (44.2%) were coal-workers' pneumoconiosis cases, and 52 930 (43.3%) were silicosis cases. The pneumoconiosis cases were distributed mainly in Hunan Province (12 995 cases, 10.6%), Shandong Province (8952 cases, 7.3%), and Sichuan Province (8417 cases, 6.9%). Most cases were distributed in coal industry (61270 cases, 50.1%), architectural, material industry (9754 cases, 8.0%), nonferrous metals industry (9380 cases, 7.7%), and metallurgical industry (8773 cases, 7.2%). The work types of these cases mainly included tunneling as the main work (15 659 cases, 12.8%), mining as the main work (15 009 cases, 12.3%), drilling (14 010 cases, 11.5%), tunneling (12 122 cases, 9.9%), and hybrid coalmine work (10 612 cases, 8.7%). The mean length of service at the onset of pneumoconiosis in new cases of pneumoconiosis was shortened from 1997 to 2009, with a median length of service of 20.00 years; the median lengths of service at the onsets of coal-workers' pneumoconiosis, silicosis, and asbestosis were 21.58, 17.00, and 20.00 years, respectively. The median age at the onset of pneumoconiosis was 51.00 years, and the mean age of onset in new cases of pneumoconiosis increased over the 13 years.</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>The incidence of pneumoconiosis is still high, with a marked concentrated trend in several industries, work types, and pneumoconiosis types, a marked rising trend in number of new cases, and a marked shortening trend in length of service at the onset of pneumoconiosis. The prevention and control of pneumoconiosis should be enhanced in key industries and for people engaging in key types of work according to the epidemiological characteristics of pneumoconiosis. In addition, the demonstration project of comprehensive prevention and control of occupational dust hazards should be carried out, and the monitoring and early warning system for pneumoconiosis should be established.</p>

Characterization of severe acute occupational poisoning accidents in China between 1989 and 2003 / 中华劳动卫生职业病杂志

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To analyze severe acute occupational poisoning accidents reported in China between 1989 and 2003, and to study the characteristics of severe acute occupational poisoning accidents and provide scientific evidences for prevention and control strategies.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>The data from the national occupational poisoning case reporting system were analyzed with descriptive methods.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>(1) There were 506 acute severe occupational poisoning accidents for 15 years with 4 657 workers poisoned. The total poisoning rate was 54.8%, and the total mortality was 16.5%. The average poisoning age was (31.9 +/- 9.8) years old and the average death age was (33.7 +/- 10.3) years old. The poisoning accidents occurred more in men than in women. (2) There were more than 112 chemicals which caused these poisoning accidents. Most of the accidents caused by hydrogen sulfide, carbon monoxide, benzene and homologs, metal and metalloid and carbon dioxide, and the types of chemicals varied in different types of industries. (3) The accidents mainly occurred in chemical industry, manufacture, water disposal industry, mining and construction industry, and the risk was higher in some jobs than others, such as cleanout, machine maintenance and repair, production, mine and digging. The accidents occurred more frequently from April to August each year.</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>(1) The control over the severe acute occupational poisoning is urgent. (2) The trend of the characteristics of severe acute occupational poisoning accidents is centralized in the high risk industries, poisons and jobs. (3) The characteristics of the accidents varied in different types of industries. (4) It is the key point to strengthen the supervision on poisoning.</p>

Characterization of severe acute occupational poisoning accidents related to asphyxiating gases in China between 1989 and 2003 / 中华劳动卫生职业病杂志

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To analyze severe acute occupational poisoning accidents related to asphyxiating gases reported in China between 1989 and 2003, and to study the characteristics of severe acute occupational poisoning accidents and provide scientific evidences for prevention and control strategies.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>The data from the national occupational poisoning case reporting system were analyzed with descriptive methods.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>(1) There were 273 severe acute occupational poisoning accidents related to asphyxiating gases for 15 years with 1638 workers poisoned and 600 workers died, which accounted for 53.95% in total accidents and 35.17% of workers poisoned and 78.64% of workers died of all severe acute occupational poisoning accidents. The average poisoning age was (33.8 +/- 9.7) years old and the average death age was (36.6 +/- 10.0) years old. (2) Most of the accidents were caused by hydrogen sulfide, carbon monoxide and carbon dioxide respectively, and mainly occurred in chemical industry, mining, water disposal industry, paper making industry and brewing industry. The risk was higher in some jobs than others, such as cleanout, machine maintenance and repair, production, mine and digging. The poisoning accidents occurred more frequently from April to September each year and occurred in the confined space, in the basement and the mine, and workers died of poisoning mostly were men.</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>(1) The severe acute occupational poisoning accidents related to asphyxiating gases are more dangerous than others. (2) The control of poisoning accidents related to hydrogen sulfide, carbon monoxide and carbon dioxide, which occurred easily in the confined space, should be paid more attention to, and good work practice should be developed on some posts, such as digging, cleanout, dredge, machine maintenance and repair and mine.</p>

Characterization of severe acute occupational poisoning accidents related to irritating gases in China between 1989 and 2003 / 中华劳动卫生职业病杂志

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To analyze severe acute occupational poisoning accidents related to irritating gases reported in China between 1989 and 2003, and to study the characteristics of severe acute occupational poisoning accidents and provide scientific evidences for prevention and control strategies.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>The data from the national occupational poisoning case reporting system were analyzed with descriptive methods.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>(1) There were 92 severe acute occupational poisoning accidents related to asphyxiating gases during 15 years, which showed that there were 14.5 accidents occurred each year. Forty types of chemicals were reported to cause poisoning accidents directly. On average, there were 14.5 persons poisoned and 0.8 persons died of poisoning in each event. The number of death of poisoning reached 7 in most of the severe accidents. Chlorine was the main irritating gas resulting in poisoning accidents according to the number of accidents, cases and death.</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>(1) The severe acute occupational poisoning related to irritating gases are more dangerous than others because of it is involved in more cases in each accident. (2) The accidents have concentricity in the certain types of chemicals, industries and jobs, and should be focused on control. (3) It is important to develop the program about early warning and forecast and the first aid.</p>

Characterization of severe acute occupational poisoning accidents related to organic solvents in China between 1989 and 2003 / 中华劳动卫生职业病杂志

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To analyze severe acute occupational poisoning accidents related to organic solvents reported in China between 1989 and 2003, and to study the characteristics of severe acute occupational poisoning accidents and provide scientific evidences for prevention and control strategies.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>The data from the national occupational poisoning case reporting system were analyzed with descriptive methods.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>(1) There were 58 severe acute occupational poisoning accidents related to organic solvents for 15 years with 393 workers poisoned and 48 workers died. The total poisoning rate was 51.2%, and the total mortality was 12.2%. The average poisoning age was (30.9 +/- 8.8) years old and the average death age was (30.6 +/- 12.0) years old. (2) There were 11 types of chemicals that caused these poisoning accidents, and most of the accidents were caused by benzene and homologs. (3) Most of the accidents occurred in manufacture, chemical industry, construction industry, transportation and storage industry, service and commerce. The risk was higher in some jobs than in others, such as paint spraying and cleanout. The poisoning accidents occurred more frequently from April to July each year. (4) The main causes of the accidents were poor ventilation (23.6%), lack of personal protection equipment (21.2%), lack of safety education (19.2%), and lack of safety work practice (15.8%) etc.</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>The ventilation at the workplace involved in organic solvents should be maintained and the skin contacting directly with the organic solvents should be avoided, and it is encouraged to replace the poison with the nontoxic or lower toxic chemicals.</p>

Characterization of severe acute occupational poisoning accidents related to metal and metalloid in China between 1989 and 2003 / 中华劳动卫生职业病杂志

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To study the characteristics of severe acute occupational poisoning accidents related to metal and metalloid and provide scientific evidences for prevention and control strategies.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>The data from the national occupational poisoning case reporting system were analyzed with descriptive methods.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>(1) There were 39 severe acute occupational poisoning accidents related to metal and metalloid for 15 years, which showed that there were 2.6 accidents occurred each year. Thirteen chemicals were reported to cause poisoning directly with 609 workers poisoned and 32 workers died. On average, there were 15.6 workers poisoned and 0.8 workers died of poisoning in each accident. The total poisoning rate was 52.9%, and the total mortality was 5.3%. The average poisoning age was (29.2 +/- 9.08) years old and the average death age was (32.3 +/- 9.9) years old. (2) The number of accidents related to metal and metalloid had been rising since 1997, and 43.6% of the accidents were caused by hydrogen arsenide. (3) The accidents mainly occurred in manufacture and chemical industry and easily occurred in some jobs, such as cleanout and porterage. (4) The main causes of the accidents were poor ventilation (22.5%), lack of personal protection equipment (19.8%), lack of safety education (19.8%), and lack of safety work practice (15.3%).</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>(1) The accidents related to hydrogen arsenide and arsenide should be highly emphasized. (2) It is important to strengthen the safety education and personal protection.</p>

The reporting system of acute pesticides poisoning and general situation of pesticides poisoning in China / 中华劳动卫生职业病杂志

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To introduce the reporting system of acute pesticides poisoning and analyze epidemiologic characteristics of pesticides poisoning from reported cases in China.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>Case reports in the data base of reporting system for occupational diseases were computed by Excel for windows and statistical significance by SAS 6.12.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>A total of 108 372 cases were reported from 1997 to 2003. Among them, the incidence of occupational poisoning, and non-occupational poisoning accounted for 25.39%, and 74.61% respectively. The fatality rate was 6.86%. The average age was 36.83 years for all pesticides poisoning patients, and 15-59 years old patients accounted for 84.11%. Among 0-14 years old non-occupational poisoning patients, 0-4 years children accounted for 33.51%. Male patients were in the majority in occupational pesticides poisoning, female in non-occupational. Insecticides especially organophosphorus insecticides such as methamidophos, parathion, and omethoate comprised a higher proportion, accounting for 86.02% of the pesticides poisoning.</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>More attention should be paid to pesticides poisoning by the government and medical workers engaged in public health.</p>

Study on injuries from emergency departments in 25 general hospitals / 中华流行病学杂志

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>This study aimed to study the characteristics of injuries in the Emergency Departments.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>Acute injuries of the Emergency Department attendants from Jury 1, 2001 to June 30, 2002 were selected.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>25,019 cases were sampled. Results showed that injured persons accounted for 17.46% of all emergent cases attending the above hospitals. 81.67% of the injuries were accidental. Sex ratio was 2.0. Young people aged 15-34 years accounted for 50.63% of all the injuries. The leading cause was mechanical injury, followed by traffic accidents and accidental falls. The leading occupation would include workers, followed by farmers and students. The fatality rate was 5.12 per thousand. The number of deaths for young people accounted for 79.69% of all deaths. The number of deaths for motor vehicle accidents took the first place and accounted for 46.88%. The characteristics due to mechanical injury and 11,151 cases of acute poisoning were analyzed.</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>To develop a surveillance post on injuries in the Emergency Departments of general hospitals are not only necessary, urgent but feasible.</p>

The comparison on cause and treatment of injuries between two types of Emergency Department among 25 hospitals / 中华流行病学杂志

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To analyze the characteristics of injuries between two types of Emergency Department (ED) in China.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>We selected 25 hospital EDs in the whole country as spots for investigation, and designed one special questionnaire to collect information, from 1st July, 2001 to 30th June, 2002.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>In city hospitals (CIH), the proportion of injury to all diseases were 19.65%, and in country hospital (COH) it was 29.88%. The fatality rate of injuries was 1.29% in COH, which was higher than that of CIH's (P < 0.001). In COH, ambulance was more frequently used to treat injury patients than in CIH, but the average rescue time was not different. In cities, machinery was the leading cause (about 32.88%), but in country it was due to transpert (35.34%). Traffic accidents, suicide/homicide and unintentional drowning were the main causes of death. In CIH, the number of unintentional poisoning was almost twice as intentional, but in COH the patients due to poisoning suicide act were more than unintentional poisoning, with 2/3 of the poisoning causes were women. Patients due to chemical, drug and food poisoning accounted for 86.13% in CIH, while in COH the main causes were pesticidal, chemical and druggery (89.80%). In all poisons, pesticide was the leading cause for death.</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>It's suggested that patients with injury be treated timely since the acute injury patients accounted for important part of ED's patients. The differences between CIH and COH were obvious, with better ability of treatment in CIH than in COH. More relevant measures were needed to improve the ability of acute treatment for injuries.</p>

Comparison of data population-based and from hospital-based injuries / 中华流行病学杂志

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To compare data from an epidemiological survey on injuries with a survey conducted in hospitals on injuries in the same areas and to find out the differences and shortcomings of hospital data in describing the feature of injuries in an area.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>Comparing the causes and age distributions of injuries from the two surveys.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>The first 4 leading causes of injuries from the population-based survey were mechanical injuries, falls, burns/scalds and traffic accidents while the first 4 leading causes of hospital-based survey were traffic accidents, assault, mechanical injuries and burns/scalds. The differences of the age distributions of these leading causes between the two surveys were significant except mechanical injuries.</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>Differences were noticed between population-based survey and hospital-based survey. It should be cautions when using hospital data to describe the features of injuries in a certain area.</p>

A survey of emergency treatment of pesticides poisoning in comprehensive hospitals / 中华劳动卫生职业病杂志

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To seek the characteristics of pesticide poisoning in emergency departments.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>Twenty-five hospitals were selected. Among them, they were 14 province or city level and 11 county level. The object of study was the patients with pesticide poisoning who were first visit to a doctor (including transfer to the above emergency departments of hospitals) from July 1, 2001 to June 30, 2002.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>There were 2 261 cases of pesticide poisoning that ranked third place of total acute poisoning cases at the same period. Gender ratio was 1 male to 1.47 female. Among 1 618 patients who first visited to emergency departments (excluding transfer), 43.9% were by emergency ambulance. 68.3% of total cases were caused by intentional exposure to pesticides, of which female accounted for 75.8%. Young people aged 15 to approximately 34 years accounted for 47.5% of all cases. Children (0 to approximately 14 years) also had relatively high pesticide poisoning rates, particularly an accident pesticide poisoning for 1- to approximately 4-year-old children accounted for 65.9% of total acute poisoning in the age group. 98.2% of all cases needed urgent medical treatment, and 52.4% were hospitalized. The leading occupation of patients was farmers followed by housekeepers, students and preschoolers. Insecticides poisoning accounted for 60.1% of all pesticides. The fatality rate in emergency department was 3.9%. 60.8% case was collected from county hospital. Pesticide poisoning rank first place of total acute poisoning cases in county hospital.</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>A safety education of Knowledge Attitude Practice (KAP) is an effective measure for preventing pesticide poisoning.</p>

The study of poisoning-suicide-attempted patients in emergency departments of 25 hospitals in China / 中华流行病学杂志

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>This study aimed to develop an estimate of the actuality and characteristics of poisoning suicide attempted patients in emergency department (ED) in China.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>We selected 25 hospital EDs in whole country as the investigation spots, and designed one special questionnaire to collect information from the poisoning suicide attempted patients from 1st July, 2001 to 30th June, 2002.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>Results were based on 4060 cases hospitalized during the investigating period. In general frequency analysis, the ratio of male to female was 1:2.95. In all patients, 98.40% cases took poisons orally, and 93.57% cases occurred at home. The average age was 31.5 years old (min 8, max 93). The leading occupations of cases were farmers, unemployed house-wives, jobless, service people and students. The main types of poisons were druggery (54.29%) and pesticide (35.84%). 2044 cases (59.23%) were cured timely (in 1 hour). When comparing cases from rural hospitals (RHs) and urban hospitals (UHs): ratio of poisoning attempted suicides in RHs to all poisoning cases was higher than UHs with significant gender difference (P < 0.05). UHs number one cause of poisoning was druggery, but in RHs it was pesticide.</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>Poisoning attempted suicide was very serious in China. Farmers and women were among the high-risk groups. Druggery and pesticide were the primary poisons, suggesting that management enforcement was in urgent need.</p>