Does Ramadan fasting affect the physical workload?

AIM: To quantify the physical workload during the Ramadan 2015 (summer season) and to verify if this load changes significantly compared with periods of non-fasting (in summer or winter seasons). METHODS: It was an18-month prospective cohort study conducted in a brickyard and a textile manufacturing company located in the governorate of Monastir (Tunisia). It was based on the results of three visits: The first one (V1) was carried out in the month of Ramadan in the hot season, the second visit (V2) took place in the hot season outside of Ramadan and the third one (V3) was in the cold season outside of Ramadan. During these visits twelve male workers from each company matched by age filled out a questionnaire and went through a heart rate recording according to the recommendations of the analysis level of the International Organization for Standardization 8996 enabling the evaluation of the physical workload. RESULTS: During Ramadan, the physical workload was rated as «Medium¼ without any significant difference between the equivalent metabolic rate means ± SD of the two groups (287.00±70.5 and 224.21±43.01W respectively in the brickyard and in the textile manufacturing company). The working metabolic rate and the percentage of use of the maximum working capacity decreased in V2 and in V3 with no significant difference between the two companies and the three measurement visits. CONCLUSION: The physical workload in the month of Ramadan measured in two different activity sectors was found to be «Medium¼ and did not significantly differ from that noted in the non-fasting periods (outside of Ramadan).

[Occupational asthma compensation in the Tunisian Center: cross-sectional study over a period of eight years]. / Asthme professionnel indemnisé dans le centre tunisien: étude ransversale sur huit ans.

INTRODUCTION: Our study aimed to highlight the epidemiological profile of patients compensated for occupational asthma in the Tunisian Center, to identify their professional characteristics and to determine compensation practices for this occupational disease. METHODS: We conducted an exhaustive retrospective study over a period of eight years. This case study included workers with occupational asthma diagnosed and compensated in the Tunisian Center by the only two medical commissions empowered to set rates for permanent partial disability caused by either a work-related injury or an occupational diseases in the seven central governorates. RESULTS: A total of 129 workers, with average age of 40.6 ± 7.75 years were compensated for occupational asthma during the study period. Sex ratio was 0.66. The most incriminated etiologic agents were vegetable dust pollution in the textile industry (75.2%), wood dust, flour and isocyanates. Nonspecific bronchial hyperreactivity was found in 38% of cases, a high rate of IgE in 14% of cases and positive skin prick test in 10.9% of cases. The average rate of permanent partial disability was 25.6 ± 14.2%. On the basis of the analytical study, this rate was related to patient's age and to the medical commission which had set this rate. CONCLUSION: This study of workers compensated for occupational asthma provides relevant data about epidemiological and clinical features of diagnosed patients and committee practices in particular, in term of application of the voluntary indicative scale, but it does not allow an assessment of the prevalence of this pathology which is often underestimated.