This study was conducted in order to evaluate the association between the working hours of Korean employees and the metabolic syndrome and the effects of long working hours on metabolic syndrome based on the 5th Korean National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (2010-2012).
Based on the 5th Korean National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (2010-2012), 4,456 Korean employees without shift work, aged over 15, who work 30 hours or more per week were targeted in this study. The association between the general characteristics, including age, smoking, alcohol drinking, exercise, and the metabolic syndrome criteria defined by International Diabetes Federation (IDF) and weekly working hours were analyzed. In addition, the association between weekly working hours and the metabolic syndrome of the subjects stratified by gender was analyzed through multiple logistic regression analyses and generalized linear mixed model after adjusting the general characteristics.
In the results of stratified analysis by gender, in male subjects, in comparison with the 30-39 weekly working hours group, there were no significant adjusted odds ratios to the other working hours groups. In female subjects, in comparison with the 30-39 weekly working hours group, there were no significant adjusted odds ratios to the other working hours groups. In addition, no trend associations were observed among weekly working hour groups in both stratified genders.
No significant differences in prevalence of metabolic syndrome of the subjects stratified by gender were found according to weekly increasing working hours. However, due to some limitations of this study, further prospective studies may be necessary for verification.
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Lead is a metal that has no biological function useful for the human body. In Korea, non-occupational exposure to lead has mostly occurred through taking oriental medicine. However, in this paper we report a case of lead poisoning caused by ingesting talisman material.
A 16-year-old male patient complained of severe abdominal pain after taking cinnabar, a talisman material. He was diagnosed with lead poisoning accompanied by acute hepatitis. We confirmed that the cinnabar the patient took contained about 10% elemental lead. After symptom management, the patients’ symptoms, liver function test results, and blood lead concentration level improved.
Lead poisoning can be accompanied by hepatitis, although rarely. As we have confirmed that cinnabar as a talisman material is harmful to the human body, measures to prevent its misuse are needed.
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This study aimed to determine identify any association between shift work and the metabolic syndrome by comparing the prevalence rates of the metabolic syndrome in shift work groups and daytime work groups for female workers.
Based on data from health examinations carried out from April to December of 2012, we selected as our subjects 254 female workers from the Daegu area Dyeing Industrial Complex. We diagnosed the metabolic syndrome using the examination results, and information about age, whether or not they did shift work, job type, smoking habits, drinking habits, exercise habits, and past medical history was collected through self-administered questionnaire surveys and face-to-face interviews. The variables found in a univariate analysis to be significant in the occurrence of the metabolic syndrome - age, drinking habits, exercise habits, and shift work - were included in a logistic regression analysis of the risk of the metabolic syndrome for female workers.
The prevalence rates of the metabolic syndrome for the total group of study subjects was 11.8%, for daytime workers was 2.8%, and for shift workers was 15.3%. A logistic regression analysis of the odds of the metabolic syndrome for female workers was conducted that included factors associated with the occurrence of the metabolic syndrome: age, drinking habits, exercise habits, and shift work. The results revealed that the odds ratio of the metabolic syndrome in the shift work group, 6.30 (95% CI 1.24-32.15), was significantly higher when compared with the daytime work group.
Shift work appears to have an association with the metabolic syndrome in female workers. Accordingly, we believe that the attention of government agencies and business owners is needed together with the individual practice of health behaviors to manage the metabolic syndrome for the prevention of cardiovascular disease in female shift workers.
Citations
Metabolic Syndrome in Female Police Officers and Female Office Workers: A Cross-Sectional Study in Occupations with Different Physical Activities