Ye BJ, et al. Ann Occup Environ Med. 2016 Jan;28(1):5. https://doi.org/10.1186/s40557-015-0086-8

Kim HC, et al. Ann Occup Environ Med. 2015 Dec;27(1):30. https://doi.org/10.1186/s40557-015-0085-9

Several studies suggest that serum ferritin concentrations reflect systemic inflammation, and high ferritin levels can increase the risk of hypertension in adult men. Shift work is also known to increase the risk of hypertension; however, there has been no study about the relationship between serum ferritin levels and the prevalence of hypertension according to the working type. This cross-sectional study included 4,442 male participants (3,651 daytime workers and 791 shift workers) who participated in the fifth Korean National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. Hypertension was defined as a systolic blood pressure greater than or equal to 140 mmHg, a diastolic blood pressure greater than or equal to 90 mmHg or the current use of antihypertensive medications regardless of blood pressure values. For the statistical analyses, serum ferritin levels were reclassified into quartiles, and complex sample analyses were used to evaluate the relationship between serum ferritin levels and the prevalence of hypertension according to the working type in this study. Serum ferritin and shift work were positively associated with the prevalence of hypertension. The effect of interaction was above multiplicative. When compared to participants in the lowest serum ferritin quartile, the odds ratio for hypertension for participants in the highest serum ferritin quartile was 1.372 (1.027–1.833) in daytime workers and 2.009 (1.042–3.873) in shift workers after adjustment. The prevalence of hypertension increased as ferritin levels increased in individuals, especially in shift workers.

Exposure to extreme temperature is a critical occupational risk factor. This study aimed to investigate the association between exposure to extreme temperatures and injury at the workplace using data from 92,238 workers (46,175 male and 46,063 female) from the 2014 and 2017 Korean Working Condition Survey. Exposure to extremely high or low temperatures, injury experiences, and personal protective equipment (PPE) wearing behavior were investigated using a questionnaire. Logistic regression analyses were performed to investigate the association between exposure to extreme temperature and injury experience. The association between injury experience and PPE wearing behavior was analyzed for each exposure group. After adjusting for individual and occupational factors, the odds ratios (ORs) for injury experience were 2.06 (95% confidence interval (CI): 1.78–2.38) and 1.64 (95% CI: 1.44–1.85) in both high and low temperature exposure groups, respectively, and 1.45 (95% CI: 1.15–1.83) for those not wearing PPE when exposed to high temperature. There was no significant association shown with wearing PPE and injury experience in the low temperature exposure group. Exposure to extreme temperature tended to increase the risk of injury, and was higher in workers not wearing PPE in high temperature. PPE that can be worn comfortably in high temperature is needed to prevent occupational injury.

Objective We aimed to investigate the association between low-grade inflammation as indicated by high-sensitivity C-reactive protein (hsCRP) level and organizational factors, such as work hours and shift work. Methods We evaluated 7470 young and middle-aged workers who participated in the Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Surveys from 2015–2018. Work hours were determined from self-reported questionnaires. Shift work was defined as a non-daytime fixed work schedule. An interaction effect between shift work and long work hours on the hsCRP level was estimated using relative excess risk due to interaction (RERI) and attributable proportion (AP) with 95% confidence intervals (CI). Results Increased hsCRP levels were prevalent in 25.2% of the study population. There was a significant association between long work hours and increased hsCRP, especially among middle-aged men [odds ratio (OR) 1.50 (95% CI 1.20–1.87) for moderately increased hsCRP and OR 1.62 (95% CI 1.14–2.30) for highly increased hsCRP]. There was a significant interaction effect between long work hours and shift work on increased hsCRP among middle-aged workers. The RERI were 0.03 (95% CI 0.02–0.04) and 0.56 (95% CI 0.45–0.68) among middle-aged men and women, respectively. The AP were 0.02 (95% CI 0.01–0.03) and 0.36 (95% CI 0.31–0.40) among middle-aged men and women, respectively. Conclusion There was no significant association between shift work and the level of hsCRP. Long work hours were related to low-grade inflammatory processes, but only in middle-aged workers. There was an interaction effect between long work hours and shift work for increased hsCRP, especially in middle-aged women.

Purpose: Lunit INSIGHT CXR (Lunit) is a commercially available deep-learning algorithm-based decision support system for chest radiography (CXR). This retrospective study aimed to evaluate the concordance rate of radiologists and Lunit for thoracic abnormalities in a multicenter health screening cohort. Methods and materials: We retrospectively evaluated the radiology reports and Lunit results for CXR at several health screening centers in August 2020. Lunit was adopted as a clinical decision support system (CDSS) in routine clinical practice. Subsequently, radiologists completed their reports after reviewing the Lunit results. The DLA result was provided as a color map with an abnormality score (%) for thoracic lesions when the score was greater than the predefined cutoff value of 15%. Concordance was achieved when (a) the radiology reports were consistent with the DLA results (“accept”), (b) the radiology reports were partially consistent with the DLA results (“edit”) or had additional lesions compared with the DLA results (“add”). There was discordance when the DLA results were rejected in the radiology report. In addition, we compared the reading times before and after Lunit was introduced. Finally, we evaluated systemic usability scale questionnaire for radiologists and physicians who had experienced Lunit. Results: Among 3,113 participants (1,157 men; mean age, 49 years), thoracic abnormalities were found in 343 (11.0%) based on the CXR radiology reports and 621 (20.1%) based on the Lunit results. The concordance rate was 86.8% (accept: 85.3%, edit: 0.9%, and add: 0.6%), and the discordance rate was 13.2%. Except for 479 cases (7.5%) for whom reading time data were unavailable (n = 5) or unreliable (n = 474), the median reading time increased after the clinical integration of Lunit (median, 19s vs. 14s, P < 0.001). Conclusion: The real-world multicenter health screening cohort showed a high concordance of the chest X-ray report and the Lunit result under the clinical integration of the deep-learning solution. The reading time slight increased with the Lunit assistance.