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Variations in exposure to carcinogens among shift workers and non‐shift workers
Author(s) -
ElZaemey Sonia,
Carey Renee N.
Publication year - 2019
Publication title -
american journal of industrial medicine
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.7
H-Index - 104
eISSN - 1097-0274
pISSN - 0271-3586
DOI - 10.1002/ajim.22950
Subject(s) - medicine , shift work , poisson regression , work shift , occupational exposure , environmental health , asbestos , occupational cancer , carcinogen , occupational medicine , confidence interval , toxicology , population , operations management , materials science , genetics , psychiatry , biology , economics , metallurgy
Background There is limited information on whether the prevalence of exposure to workplace carcinogens varies among shift workers and non‐shift workers. Methods This analysis used data from the Australian Work Exposures Study‐Cancer, a telephone survey which examined exposure to carcinogens in the workplace. Workers were classified as shift workers if they indicated that their usual roster ever included work between the hours of midnight and 5 am. Modified Poisson regression was used to estimate the adjusted prevalence ratios (aPRs) and 95% confidence internals (CIs). Results Among the 5425 workers, 6.88% reported being exposed to shift work. Overall, shift workers were more likely to be exposed to any carcinogen (aPR = 1.16; 95% 1.06‐1.26) and to specific carcinogens such as asbestos (aPR = 1.93; 95% 1.33‐2.83) than non‐shift workers. Conclusions Our study shows that there are differences in exposure to carcinogenic agents among shift and non‐shift workers, and so there is a need for prevention programs in order to reduce these discrepancies.