ABSTRACT
Background: Many studies have discussed the relationship between COVID-19 and smoking, but they include many contradictory findings. This study evaluates the relationship between smoking and the incidence and severity of COVID-19 patients in Shahroud City, Iran. Methods: We conducted a cross-sectional analytical study using COVID-19 data. All suspected cases were referred to the registered centers at Shahroud University of Medical Sciences from 21 January 2020 to 20 March 2021. Multivariable logistic regression was conducted to evaluate the relationship between smoking and SARS-COV 2 confirmed cases, and its severity. Results: Overall, it was confirmed that 22.6% of smokers had positive COVID-19 PCR tests compared to 42.1% of non-smokers. COVID-19 is a public health problem, and the results showed that there was a relationship between smoking and COVID-19 confirmed cases and severity. The results showed that smoking, adjusting for other related factors, reduces the odds of COVID-19 by 58%, but increases the odds of severe disease by 89%. Conclusions: In this study, smoking was significantly associated with a low chance of developing COVID-19 disease but higher odds of severity. These significant results were reported even in the presence of under-reporting of smoking by patients, which underestimates the association. These results should not be ignored, and further studies are needed.
ABSTRACT
@#Introduction: The internship course is a very important part of each university course. The present study aimed at designing and validating a standard instrument for evaluating the internship course in the field of Occupational Health and Safety Engineering (OHSE) from the perspective of trainees. Methods: The dimensions and items of the tool were developed using the panel of experts, syllabus provided by the Iranian Ministry of Health and Medical Education, and literature reviews. Validity of the tool was assessed using face validity, Content Validity Ratio (CVR), Content Validity Index (CVI), and Impact Score (IS). Reliability was evaluated by test–retest reliability analyses and internal consistency (Cronbach’s alpha coefficient). Finally, the internship courses were evaluated during three subsequent years (2016-2018) among 45 students of Shahroud University of Medical Sciences (SHMU) in Iran. Results: The final version of the tool contained five dimensions and 20 items. The CVI and CVR were 0.81 and 0.74, respectively. The ISs of all 20 items were above the minimum acceptable value (1.5). The Cronbach’s alpha coefficient was 0.79 and test-retest Pearson’s correlation coefficient was significant at 0.891 (p<0.001). The overall mean score of evaluation was estimated to be 3.81, which was acceptable. However, poor mean scores were obtained in “access to equipment and laboratory instruments” and “familiarity with job opportunities and internship” dimensions. Conclusions: The results of this study led to a valid tool for evaluating the OHSE internship course. This standard tool can be used to evaluate the perspective of OHSE trainees about the training period and use the results to correct the weaknesses and reinforce the strengths of the training programs.
ABSTRACT
@#Introduction: Assessment of the performance of management systems is one of the main concerns of managers. The measure of success of an occupational health and safety management system is the ex-tent of its effectiveness. The effects of implementing an OHSMS on health and safety perfor-mance indices in a casting site located in Iran between 2015 and 2019 were examined. Methods: A retrospective descriptive-analytical study was conducted over five years on 21 depart-ments of a casting site. All the functional indices one year before the implementation of OHSAS 18001:2007 in 2015 until a year after the implementation (2019) were monitored and the data were analyzed using SPSS (v.19). Results: There was a significant decrease in occupational accidents after the implementation of OHSAS 18001:2007. Mechanical and ergonomic factors demonstrated significant improvements. There were improvements in the indices of opening health files for the personnel, personal protective equipment, education, instructions, legal requirements, commitment, and leadership. There was no significant change in chemical and physical factors. Conclusion: Implementation of the occupational health and safety manage-ment system was effective in the indices that needed managerial control with no or low expenses. However, it was not effective in indices in engineering and technical areas that needed more expenses.
