Comparison of the dental health status of 8 to 14-year-old children in France and in Jordan, a country of endemic fluorisis

In the present paper, data obtained from a survey dealing with dental carie, dental fluorosis and gingival health, involving 2618 Jordanian schoolchildren, aged 8 to 14, were compared with data from another survey dealing with 1058 schoolchildren of the same age groups living in a non-fluoridated area in the west of France. As regards dental carie in temporary teeth,  up to the age of 12, the dft and dfs scores were higher in France than in Jordan. Over the age of 12, the difference was no longer significant. As regards dental carie in permanent teeth, the data showing that Jordanian children are less subject to caries than the French were very highly significant. Also, it was shown that caries index in girls was higher than in boys.These data were not significant in the French survey, but highly significant in the Jordanian investigation.A possible explanation is that, due to the custom of the country, boys in Jordan drink much more tea (with high fluoride content) than girls. As regards gingival health, an interesting finding was that, compared to the French children, the percentage of Jordanian children presenting gingivitis is remarkably low. The fluoride content of the dental plaque might play a restricting and preventing role.Les résultats d’une enquête sur la carie dentaire, la fluorose et la gingivite, menée en Jordanie chez 2618 écoliers de 8 à 14 ans, ont été comparés avec ceux d’une enquête menée en France chez 1058 écoliers de mêmes âges, dans l’Ouest de la France, où l’eau de boisson n’est pas fluorée. En ce qui concerne la carie des dents temporaires, les indices en France sont plus élevés qu’en Jordanie, mais la différence n’est plus significative après l’âge de 12 ans. Pour les dents permanentes, les résultats indiquent, de façon très significative, que les enfants Jordaniens sont moins atteints par la carie que les français. Les filles, dans les deux enquêtes, sont plus atteintes que les garçons, mais la différence n’est pas significative dans l’enquête française, alors qu’elle est très significative dans l’enquête jordanienne. La raison pourrait être qu’en Jordanie, la coutume du pays veut que les garçons participent très tôt aux rites de la vie quotidienne et boivent davantage de thé (très fluoré) que les filles. En ce qui concerne la gingivite, le pourcentage des enfants atteints en Jordanie est très bas, comparé à ce qu’il est en France. Le contenu en fluor de la plaque pourrait jouer un rôle limitatif et protecteur

Relationships of Physical Job Tasks and Living Conditions with Occupational Injuries in Coal Miners

This study assessed the relationships of job tasks and living conditions with occupational injuries among coal miners. The sample included randomly selected 516 underground workers. They completed a standardized self-administred questionnaire. The data were analyzed via logistic regression method. The rate of injuries in the past two years was 29.8%. The job tasks with significant crude relative risks were: power hammer, vibrating hand tools, pneumatic tools, bent trunk, awkward work posture, heat, standing about and walking, job tasks for trunk and upper/lower limbs, pain caused by work, and muscular tiredness. Logistic model shows a strong relationship between the number of job tasks (JT) and injuries (adjusted ORs vs. JT 0–1: 2.21, 95%CI 1.27–3.86 for JT 2–6 and 3.82, 2.14–6.82 for JT=7), and significant ORs=1.71 for face work, not-good-health-status, and psychotropic drug use. Musculoskeletal disorders and certain personality traits were also significant in univariate analysis. Therefore job tasks and living conditions strongly increase the injuries, and occupational physicians could help workers to find remedial measures

Relationships of physical job tasks and living conditions with occupational injuries in coal miners

International audienceThis study assessed the relationships of job tasks and living conditions with occupational injuries among coal miners. The sample included randomly selected 516 underground workers. They completed a standardized self-administred questionnaire. The data were analyzed via logistic regression method. The rate of injuries in the past two years was 29.8%. The job tasks with significant crude relative risks were: power hammer, vibrating hand tools, pneumatic tools, bent trunk, awkward work posture, heat, standing about and walking, job tasks for trunk and upper/lower limbs, pain caused by work, and muscular tiredness. Logistic model shows a strong relationship between the number of job tasks (JT) and injuries (adjusted ORs vs. JT 0-1: 2.21, 95%CI 1.27-3.86 for JT 2-6 and 3.82, 2.14-6.82 for JT>or=7), and significant ORs>or=1.71 for face work, not-good-health-status, and psychotropic drug use. Musculoskeletal disorders and certain personality traits were also significant in univariate analysis. Therefore job tasks and living conditions strongly increase the injuries, and occupational physicians could help workers to find remedial measures

Relationships of job and some individual characteristics to occupational injuries in employed people: a community-based study

International audienceThis study assessed the associations of job and some individual factors with occupational injuries among employed people from a general population in north-eastern France; 2,562 workers were randomly selected from the working population. A mailed auto-questionnaire was filled in by each subject. Statistical analysis was performed with loglinear models. The annual incidence rate of at least one occupational injury was 4.45%. Significant contributing factors for occupational injuries were job category (60.8%), sex (16.2%), regular psychotropic drug use (8.5%), age groups (7.5%), and presence of a disease (7.0%). The men had higher risk than the women (adjusted odds-ratio 1.99, 95% CI 1.43-2.78). Compared to executives, intellectual professionals and teachers, labourers had the highest risk (6.40, 3.55-11.52). They were followed by farmers, craftsmen and tradesmen (6.18, 2.86-13.08), technicians (3.14, 1.41-6.70), employees (2.94, 1.59-5.48) and other subjects (3.87, 1.90-7.88). The young (< or = 29 yr) showed an increased risk. Similar odds-ratios were observed for regular psychotropic drug use (1.54, 1.16-2.05) and the presence of a disease (1.50, 1.11-2.02). Univariate analysis showed that smoking habit, overweight and excess alcohol use were also associated with injuries. The loglinear model results showed that there were associations between some of these independent factors. It was concluded that job, sex, young age, smoking habit, excess alcohol use, overweight, psychotropic drug use, and disease influenced the occupational injuries. Preventive measures concerning work conditions, risk assessment and job knowledge should be conducted in overall active population, especially in men, young workers, smokers, alcohol users, overweight workers and in individuals with a disease or psychosomatic disorders

Association of physical job demands, smoking and alcohol abuse with subsequent premature mortality: a 9-year follow-up population-based study.

International audienceThis study assessed the relationships of physical job demands (PJD), smoking, and alcohol abuse, with premature mortality before age 70 (PM-70) among the working or inactive population. The sample included 4,268 subjects aged 15 or more randomly selected in north-eastern France. They completed a mailed questionnaire (birth date, sex, weight, height, job, PJD, smoking habit, alcohol abuse (Deta questionnaire)) in 1996 and were followed for mortality until 2004 (9 yr). PJD score was defined by the cumulative number of the following high job demands at work: hammer, vibrating platform, pneumatic tools, other vibrating hand tools, screwdriver, handling objects, awkward posture, tasks at heights, machine tools, pace, working on a production line, standing about and walking. The data were analyzed using the Poisson regression model. Those with PM-70 were 126 (3.81 per 1,000 person-years). The leading causes of death were cancers (46.4% in men, 57.1% in women), cardiovascular diseases (20.2% and 11.9%), suicide (9.5% and 7.1%), respiratory diseases (6.0% and 4.8%), and digestive diseases (2.4% and 4.8%). PJD3, smoker, and alcohol abuse had adjusted risk ratios of 1.71 (95% CI 1.02-2.88), 1.76 (1.08-2.88), and 2.07 (1.31-3.26) respectively for all-cause mortality. Manual workers had a risk ratio of 1.84 (1.00-3.37) compared to the higher socio-economic classes. The men had a two-fold higher mortality rate than the women; this difference became non-significant when controlling for job, PJD, smoker and alcohol abuse. For cancer mortality the factors PJD3, smoker, and alcohol abuse had adjusted risk ratios of 2.00 (1.00-3.99), 2.34 (1.19-4.63), and 2.22 (1.17-4.20), respectively. Health promotion efforts should be directed at structural measures of task redesign and they should also concern lifestyle