Increased age appears to be a strong risk factor for COVID-19 severe outcomes. However, studies do not sufficiently consider the age-dependency of other important factors influencing the course of disease. The aim of this review was to quantify the isolated effect of age on severe COVID-19 outcomes. We searched Pubmed to find relevant studies published in 2020. Two independent reviewers evaluated them using predefined inclusion and exclusion criteria. We extracted the results and assessed seven domains of bias for each study. After adjusting for important age-related risk factors, the isolated effect of age was estimated using meta-regression. Twelve studies met our inclusion criteria: four studies for COVID-19 disease severity, seven for mortality, and one for admission to ICU. The crude effect of age (5.2% and 13.4% higher risk of disease severity and death per age year, respectively) substantially decreased when adjusting for important age-dependent risk factors (diabetes, hypertension, coronary heart disease/cerebrovascular disease, compromised immunity, previous respiratory disease, renal disease). Adjusting for all six comorbidities indicates a 2.7% risk increase for disease severity (two studies), and no additional risk of death per year of age (five studies). The indication of a rather weak influence of age on COVID-19 disease severity after adjustment for important age-dependent risk factors should be taken in consideration when implementing age-related preventative measures (e.g., age-dependent work restrictions).

There is evidence suggesting that occupational trauma leads to post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and depression. However, there is a lack of high-quality reviews studying this association. We, therefore, conducted a systematic review with a meta-analysis to summarize the evidence of occupational trauma on PTSD and depression. After a database search on studies published between 1994 and 2018, we included 31 studies, of which only four had a low risk of bias. For soldiers exposed to wartime deployment, the pooled relative risk (RR) was 2.18 (95% CI 1.83–2.60) for PTSD and 1.15 (95% CI 1.06–1.25) for depression. For employees exposed to occupational trauma, there also was an increased risk for PTSD (RR = 3.18; 95% CI 1.76–5.76) and for depression (RR = 1.73; 95% CI 1.44–2.08). The overall quality of the evidence according to the Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development, and Evaluation (GRADE) approach was moderate; the evidence was high only for the association between workers after exposure to trauma and development of PTSD. The study results indicate an increased risk of PTSD and depression in soldiers after participation in war and in employees after occupational trauma.

Purpose: The purpose of this scoping review was to summarise recent literature on labour inspections carried out by government authorities and accident insurance organisations, and their impact on workers’ health and safety. Methods: A scoping review was conducted to investigate the effect of occupational safety and health (OSH) inspectorate interventions on occupational safety and health. The methodical approach was based on a previous systematic review on the effect of inspections on OSH. Literature searches were performed in PubMed, Web of Science and NIOSHTIC-2, complemented by screening of reference lists of the included full texts and topic-relevant reviews and a forward search in Google Scholar. Additionally, OSH authorities and accident insurance institutions in Germany, as well as the EU-OSHA national focal points were asked to submit reports on OSH inspections. Furthermore, the ‘grey’ literature search was extended to publications from the federal governments in Germany, Austria and Switzerland. Findings were extracted and combined with studies from the above-mentioned systematic review for meta-analysis. The study protocol with the methodological procedure was registered on Open Science Framework ( https://osf.io/gy2u6/ ). Results: A total of 37 publications from Europe and North America on the effect of OSH inspections by government authorities were included in the study. Most of the studies examined the effect of labour inspections on (fatal and non-fatal) injuries at work, as well as the implementation of safety measures and compliance with legal requirements. The results of the individual studies generally indicate a protective effect of labour inspections on work-related injuries and compliance, but the results regarding compensation claims were heterogenous. In addition, pooled risk estimates from meta-analyses indicate that inspected workplaces had a lower risk of work-related injuries (relative risk (RR) = 0.75, 95% CI 0.57–0.97) and of non-compliance with workplace safety rules (RR = 0.68, 95% CI 0.45–1.01) compared with non-inspected workplaces. Conclusions: Our results reinforce the findings of previous reviews that inspections are effective in reducing work-related injuries. Thus, inspections are important for promoting and improving occupational health and safety.