Occupational diseases arising in the area of the Ministry of Defence in the Czech Republic and their relationship to work categorization.

OBJECTIVE: The article deals with occupational health protection and identification of health risks in the work environment of the Ministry of Defence (MoD) of the Czech Republic (CR). It focuses on the assessment of the incidence of occupational diseases (OD) in high-risk and risk-free occupational categories in the years 2010-2019 and compares them with data from the civilian sector. It identifies the differences between military staff and civilian employees of the MoD. METHODS: From the records of OD at the Department of Occupational Diseases of the Central Military Hospital in Prague, the data on acknowledged OD from the years 2010 to 2019 were obtained and then a retrospective analysis focusing on the classification of work at risk was performed. The obtained data were compared with the data from the Czech National Registry of Occupational Diseases (NROD), which are published annually by the National Institute of Public Health. RESULTS: In the years under review, 191 OD were confirmed at the area of MoD, 26% of all OD occurred in employees classified in the occupational risk category. Compared with the data in the NROD, where 50% of OD were found to have been caused by high-risk work, the incidence of OD caused by high-risk work in professional soldiers is lower. Only 1.6% of all OD occurred in professional soldiers whose work was classified as high-risk one. In civilian employees of MoD 24.6% of all OD were connected with high-risk work. On the contrary, the proportion of OD occurring in professional soldiers working in risk-free categories was 57.6%, in civilian employees of MoD was the ratio much lower - 16.2%. CONCLUSION: Work at the Ministry of Defence was not adequately categorized, therefore, in 2020 a new categorization of work was introduced, which together with preventive measures could contribute to reducing the incidence of OD at the Ministry of Defence.

Comparison of selected risk factors in cardiovascular diseases in two different populations of the Czech Republic.

OBJECTIVES: The aim of this work is to compare the current prevalence of selected risk factors in cardiovascular diseases in the Czech general population in a particular region with a selected population of Czech soldiers in a particular military unit. METHODS: Within medical preventive examinations, data from 684 civilians aged between 30-60 years were obtained (405 men and 279 women). Within compulsory medical preventive examinations, data from 659 soldiers from a particular military unit aged between 30-60 years were obtained (576 men and 83 women). Anthropometric parameters such as height and body weight were monitored and then used to calculate the values of Body Mass Index (BMI) and waist circumference. From biochemical parameters the following values were monitored: glycaemia, uric acid, total cholesterol, LDL-cholesterol, HDL-cholesterol, triglycerides, ALT, and GGT. As for the demographic data, age and gender were processed. In the cohort of male soldiers a questionnaire was used to find the extent of cigarette smoking, frequency of using alcoholic drinks and performance of regular physical activities such as aerobic exercises. RESULTS: As for cardiovascular risk, assessed anthropometric parameters in monitored female age categories are statistically significantly lower (p < 0.05) in women in the Army of the Czech Republic (ACR) compared to the female civilian population. Most of the biochemical parameters also display values that indicate the female military population is healthier than the civilian in these parameters. On the other hand, assessed anthropometric parameters in monitored male age categories are statistically significantly lower (p < 0.001) in civilian men compared to the male military population. Most of the assessed biochemical parameters show statistically significant health-indicative values in the male civilian population as well. CONCLUSION: This work revealed differences in anthropometric and biochemical parameters between the examined civilian and military populations. As for cardiovascular risk, the main findings are significantly worse anthropometric and biochemical parameters in the selected male military cohort compared to the male civilian cohort.