Sentinel surveillance and occupational disease

Improving collection and analysis of data to measure trends in occupational diseases (ODs) has long been, and continues to be, a strategic aim of past and future European Union strategies for health and safety at work. precision in terminology has traditionally influenced the gradual growth of science, including in the discipline of medicine. Definitions evolve over time reflecting contemporary scientific thinking and developments shaped by social, political and academic factors. Sentinel surveillance systems in occupational health involve the ongoing and rapid identification of sentinel health events (cases and their corresponding occupational risks) for purposes of follow-up and for developing statistical trends. The goal of such surveillance systems is to enhance case reporting, identify risk factors and high-risk work sites and link preventive interventions to work sites and the broader community. The under-reporting of compensable and non-compensable work-related health problems by physicians is a well-documented phenomenon. Improving the reporting by physicians to surveillance systems in general and particularly health problems attributed to new and emerging risks is a central objective for MODERNET. In the MODERNET consortium, we looked specifically at the term \u2018OD\u2019 as it is applied to sentinel surveillance systems and examined if the term facilitates or hinders reporting of work-related health problems to surveillance systems

Trends in incidence of occupational asthma, contact dermatitis, noise-induced hearing loss, carpal tunnel syndrome and upper limb musculoskeletal disorders in European countries from 2000 to 2012

The European Union (EU) strategy for health and safety at work underlines the need to reduce the incidence of occupational diseases (OD), but European statistics to evaluate this common goal are scarce. We aim to estimate and compare changes in incidence over time for occupational asthma, contact dermatitis, noise-induced hearing loss (NIHL), carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS) and upper limb musculoskeletal disorders across 10 European countries.status: publishe

Trends in incidence of occupational asthma, contact dermatitis, noise-induced hearing loss, carpal tunnel syndrome and upper limb musculoskeletal disorders in European countries from 2000 to 2012.

The European Union (EU) strategy for health and safety at work underlines the need to reduce the incidence of occupational diseases (OD), but European statistics to evaluate this common goal are scarce. We aim to estimate and compare changes in incidence over time for occupational asthma, contact dermatitis, noise-induced hearing loss (NIHL), carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS) and upper limb musculoskeletal disorders across 10 European countries. OD surveillance systems that potentially reflected nationally representative trends in incidence within Belgium, the Czech Republic, Finland, France, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Spain, Switzerland and the UK provided data. Case counts were analysed using a negative binomial regression model with year as the main covariate. Many systems collected data from networks of 'centres', requiring the use of a multilevel negative binomial model. Some models made allowance for changes in compensation or reporting rules. Reports of contact dermatitis and asthma, conditions with shorter time between exposure to causal substances and OD, were consistently declining with only a few exceptions. For OD with physical causal exposures there was more variation between countries. Reported NIHL was increasing in Belgium, Spain, Switzerland and the Netherlands and decreasing elsewhere. Trends in CTS and upper limb musculoskeletal disorders varied widely within and between countries. This is the first direct comparison of trends in OD within Europe and is consistent with a positive impact of European initiatives addressing exposures relevant to asthma and contact dermatitis. Taking a more flexible approach allowed comparisons of surveillance data between and within countries without harmonisation of data collection method