Stress occupational disease

Carbon monoxide at high levels can cause myocardial infarction in otherwise healthy individuals and, at lower levels, can aggravate ischemia in the face of established atherosclerotic heart disease (ASHD). Chronic exposure to carbon monoxide may also be associated with ASHD. Many jurisdictions automatically grant workers compensation to firemen or policemen with ASHD, regarding it as a stress-related occupational disease. This is related to social policy rather than established epidemiologic risk. 

Stress is a reaction of the body to external stimuli ranging from the apparently normal to the overtly ill health. It varies with the individual personality but is one of the commonest occupational diseases. 

Many occupational diseases are associated with specific occupations, e.g. silicosis with the pottery industry, byssinosis with the cotton industry. Whilst improvements in working conditions have greatly reduced the incidence of such diseases, routine monitoring of workers not exposed to these conditions is an important feature of occupational health practice. Here the principal objective is that of controlling diseases and conditions prevalent in industrial populations with a view to their eventual eradication. This form of monitoring also makes a great contribution to the control of stress-related diseases and conditions, such as mental illness and heart disease. 

This chapter reviewed current research pertaining to selected environmental agents and autoimmune diseases (Table 25.3). Other infectious agents (e.g., parvovirus, varicella), occupational exposures (e.g., mercury), dietary factors (dietary supplements, nutrients such as antioxidants, and specific proteins in wheat and other grains implicated in celiac disease), and stress have been the focus of additional research that was not included in this review. 

Dalton TP, Li Q, Bittel D, Liang L, Andrews GK (1996) Oxidative stress activates metal-responsive transcription factor-1 binding activity. Occupancy in vivo of metal response elements in the metallothionein-I gene promoter. J Biol Chem 271 26233-26241 Danscher G, Howell G, Perez-Clausell J, Hertel N (1985) The dithizone, Timm s sulphide silver and the selenium methods demonstrate a chelatable pool of zinc in CNS. A proton activation (PIXE) analysis of carbon tetrachloride extracts from rat brains and spinal cords intravitally treated with dithizone. Histochemistry 83 419 22 Danscher G, Jensen KB, Frederickson CJ, Kemp K, Andreasen A, Juhl S, Stoltenberg M, Ravid R (1997) Increased amount of zinc in the hippocampus and amygdala of Alzheimer s diseased brains a proton-induced X-ray emission spectroscopic analysis of cryostat sections from autopsy material. J Neurosci Methods 76 53-59... 

Osteoarthritis is the most common form of arthritis in the United States. This disease affects men and women equally, but symptoms occur earlier and are more severe in women. Risk factors associated with the development of OA include age greater than 50 years, obesity (weight-bearing joints), injury to joints, joint overuse due to prolonged occupational or sports stress, and family history. 

Cooper, C. and Marshall, J. (1976). Occupational sources of stress A review of the literature relating to coronary heart disease and mental ill-health. Journal of Occupational Psychology 49 11-28. 

These disorders include hypertensive disease, ischemic heart disease, other forms of heart disease, and cerebrovascular disease. As with cancer, the specific contribution of occupational factors to the causation of CVD has been debated, but there is agreement that some workplace factors contribute to or cause CVD (see Smith and Sainfort 1990 for a detailed discussion of psychosocial factors and their contribution). Four main occupational sources of CVD causation are agents that affect cardiopulmonary capacity, chemicals, noise, and psychosocial stress. 

Cooper, C. L., and Marshall, J., Occupational Sources of Stress A Review of the Literature Relating to Coronary Heart Disease and Mental lU Health, Journal of Occupational Psychology, Vol. 49, 1976, pp. 11-28. 

Occupational and environmental medicine is a branch of medical practice specializing in disease and illness related to work and environmental exposures. Occupational health physicians diagnose and treat diseases and illness that may arise from work and exposure to hazardous environments. Such exposure may be a contributory factor in other diseases. Treatment may include various physical and occupational therapies to allow a return to work. Occupational health physicians also promote healthy workplaces and deal with workplace stresses. The professional organization in the United State is the American College of Occupational and Environmental Medicine (ACOEM). 

These include all other occupational illnesses. Examples are heatstroke, sunstroke, heat exhaustion, heat stress and other effects of environmental heat freezing, frostbite and other effects of exposure to low temperatures decompression sickness effects of ionizing radiation (isotopes, x-rays, radium) effects of non-ionizing radiation (welding flash, ultraviolet rays, lasers) anthrax bloodbome pathogenic diseases, such as AIDS, HIV, hepatitis B or hepatitis C brucellosis malignant or benign tumors histoplasmosis, coccidioidomycosis. 

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