OBJECTIVE: To describe the effect of design associated with a sample survey carried out to estimate the distribution of occupations within an economic active population. METHODS: A cluster sample of households, chosen from a comprehensive directory via systematic random sampling, was performed including 4,782 of all residences in Botucatu, Brazil, between June and July 1997. RESULTS: Of the 4,782 households, 17,219 subjects were assessed. Due to the loss of distribution heterogeneity of the occupations within the households, the effect of […]

OBJECTIVE: To identify differences in cancer proportionate mortality among male servicemen of the Brazilian Navy when compared to a referent population and to detect potential occupational risk factors. METHODS: Cancer proportionate mortality was estimated using death certificates and occupational histories of Brazilian navy servicemen aged 19 or more in the period of 1991 to 1995. The population of Rio de Janeiro (Brazil) was chosen as referent group because this city concentrates 70% of all Navy servicemen. RESULTS: Servicemen are more […]

A review is made to estimate the impact of occupation on workers’ health, as part of the rationale with regard to the integration of Occupational Health into the Health Sector. In this first study, based on a critical review of the literature, the repercussions on morbidity are discussed, through the analysis of Brazilian data on occupational accidents, acute occupational intoxications, occupational diseases and other “work-related diseases” such as cardiovascular diseases (hypertension being taken as a model), chronic respiratory diseases, musculoskeletal […]

The mortality ratios: the standardized risk ratio (SRR), the standardized mortality ratio (SMR), and the standardized proportional mortality ratio (SPMR) are presented with the purpose of disseminating a methodology for the study of the mortality associated with occupational categories and social classes. The influence of the “Healthy Worker Effect” and of the “Inequality Effect” in the choice of the reference population is disucussed. An operational means of testing the statistical significance of these ratio is also presented.

Rosario, with a million inhabitants, is the second major urban concentration in Argentina and serves as the commercial and industrial center for a large area. In view of the lack of information on the present prevalence of smoking in this area as for the country as a whole, a study was performed on random samples of young people and university students of medicine and economics, as well as on their parents. Information was obtained on their life smoking habits, education […]

Scientific reports on Arterial Blood Hypertension for the period from 1970 to 1989 are reviewed, with special reference to its epidemiological focusing among workers. The knowledge gained and the theoretical and methodological advances associated with it are assessed.

The association of cigarette smoking, physical activity at work, and social class with total cholesterol and with high and low density lipoprotein cholesterol were examined in a random sample of 238 males, of 18 years of age, of Rosario, Argerntina. The mean (mg/dl) total serum cholesterol of the whole sample was 174.7, the high density lipoprotein cholesterol 52.8, and the low density lipoprotein cholesterol 121.5. Black tobacco consumers, evenly distributed by social class, had higher levels of total and low […]

High male lung cancer incidence and mortality in Rosario city, Argentina, have been found in previous studies. A project was undertaken for the purpose of evaluating the life-time occupational history as well as the duration and intensity of cigarette smoking as determinants of histologic cell types in 211 male patients with primary lung cancer. Their histologic cell types were: squamous 39%, adenocarcinoma 29%, small cell 18%, and others and not specified 14%. An association was found between histologic cell types […]

OBJECTIVE: To test a model for the study of inequalities in hospitalizations in the city of Ribeirão Preto (SP), understanding them to be due both to the social position of inpatients and also to health care policies in Brazil. MATERIAL AND METHOD: Using a hospital information system in existence for more than 25 years in the city of Ribeirão Preto – SP, 56.293 hospitalizations of municipal inhabitants occurring in some of the 12 general hospitals in 1993, were studied. Using […]

INTRODUCTION: The main causes of illness and death in Brazil have been migrating backwards into the younger population during the last few years, increasing especially in the more productive age groups. Given the relationship between work and health/disease process, the hypothesis to be considered is that this phenomenon is partially due to the deterioration of workplace conditions. To contribute to investigating this hypothesis, this study estimates mortality risk indicators for the population of Botucatu, in the Southeast region of Brazil, […]