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Objectives: Only a few studies have been undertaken to analyze the dietary habits of people with cardiovascular diseases. The aim of this study was to evaluate the dietary behaviors of working people who were hospitalized due to experiencing the first acute cardiovascular incident.Material and Methods: In the study, the Functional Activity Questionnaire was used. The study was conducted in 2 groups. The first group included all the men hospitalized during 1 year (January-December 2009) in 2 clinics of cardiology, who were professionally active until the first myocardial infarction (MI). It comprised 243 men aged 26-70 years. The reference group consisted of 403 men, blue- and white-collar workers, aged 35-65 years.Results: The body mass index of the MI patients was significantly higher (p = 0.006). The frequency of consumption of particular products in the MI group and in the reference group differed significantly for 11 of 21 products. The MI patients significantly less frequently reported the daily consumption of fruit, raw vegetables, cheese, vegetable oils and fish. In this group, the consumption of salty (p = 0.0226) or fatty (p < 0.0001) foods was significantly higher. It was shown that, after adjusting for age, education and the type of work, the daily consumption of fish, salads and cooked vegetables, as well as fruit and vegetable oils, significantly reduced the risk of myocardial infarction. An increased MI risk was, in turn, associated with obesity and preference for fatty foods.Conclusions: The authors found that diet significantly modified the MI risk in the examined workers. This indicates that an important aspect of prevention activities among working people should involve education about proper dietary habits. Int J Occup Med Environ Health. 2019;32(6):853-63. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: The aim of the study was to establish whether the driver's visual strategy may influence a driver's behavior to avoid a crash in a high-risk situation. Any published papers on drivers' visual strategies just before a crash were not found.Material and Methods: Tests were performed using a high-tech driving bus simulator. Participants comprised 45 men drivers, aged 43.5±7.9 years old, seniority as a bus driver of 13.3±8.6 years. The tests were preceded by medical examinations: general, neurological and ophthalmological. Each participant drove the same city route for approximately 40 min (entire route - ER). In the final phase, a collision situation was simulated (a phantom car blocked the participant's right of way). Driver's visual strategy was analyzed using the FaceLab device with 2 cameras during ER and just before collision. The field-of-view covered by camera 1 was divided into 8 regions, by camera 2 into 10 regions. The distribution of gazes in regions was a criterion of visual strategy.Results: Thirty-five drivers completed the simulated driving test, 14 escaped the collision, 21 crashed. These groups differed only in resting systolic blood pressure before the test. The analysis of covariance, after adjusting to this factor, indicated that during the ER visual strategy recorded by camera 1 did not differ between groups, in camera 2 the drivers in the crash group fixed their gaze more frequently (p = 0.049) in region 3 (close part of the road in front of the windshield). Just before the collision drivers who escaped the collision fixed their gaze significantly more often in region 6 (left side of the road) in camera 1 and in region 6 (in front of the windshield,) and region 10 (right side) in camera 2.Conclusions: The visual strategy has an impact on the road safety. The analysis of visual strategies may be a useful tool for the training of drivers. Int J Occup Med Environ Health. 2019;32(2):161-74. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The possible associations between climate parameters and drivers' fatigue have not been subject to specific studies thus far. We have undertaken a study to investigate whether the particular climate parameters are related to fatigue perception by motor vehicle drivers. The study was performed from July to October. Each driver was surveyed four times: before and after workshift on a monotonous route outside the city center (MR), and on a heavy traffic route in the city center (HTR). The study was conducted among 45 city bus drivers aged 31-58 years (43.7 ± 7.9), seniority as driver 3-34 years (14.7 ± 8.6). Data on climate conditions (ambient temperature, air pressure, humidity, wind speed, precipitations) on particular study days was obtained from the Institute of Meteorology and Water Management, National Research Institute Warsaw, Poland. Fatigue was assessed using the Fatigue Assessment Questionnaire, developed at Nofer Institute of Occupational Medicine (Lodz, Poland). The total level of fatigue was significantly (p = 0.045) higher after driving on HTR than on MR. The number of symptoms was also significantly higher (p < 0.05) among drivers working on HTR. After MR, significant correlations were found between wind speed and heavy eyelid feeling, being prone to forgetting, eye strain, frequent blinking, and between ambient temperature and feeling thirsty. After HTR feeling thirsty, tiredness and difficulty in making decisions correlated with ambient temperature and feeling thirsty with wind speed. Climate conditions can modify the drivers fatigue; therefore, we should be aware of their impact on well-being. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: The aim of the study was to find out which occupational factors account for the risk of the myocardial infarction. Material and Methods: A questionnaire survey was performed during the period of one calendar year in all patients (1053 subjects, 692 men and 361 women) hospitalized at the Medical University of Łódź because of the first myocardial infarction. The questionnaire was prepared especially for the purpose of this study and consisted of two parts. The first part comprised: demographic data, health status at admittance, traditional risk factors for the ischaemic heart disease and was filled-in by physicians. Part II was done by occupational hygiene specialists and referred to education, job title and characteristics, employment data, self assessment of work-related and general stress, fatigue, socio-economic status, physical activity, alcohol intake, tobacco smoking, dietary habits. Results: Mean age in the study group was 59.9±10.4 years (26-85 years), 58.7±10.0 (26-84 years) for men and 62.3±10.7 (32-85 years) for women, employment duration was 32.9±8.8 (4-65 years), for men 34.0±8.6 (5-65 years), for women 30.7±8.8 (4-60 years. Most of myocardial infarction cases both in the group of men and women were noted in the age interval 56-60 years, 22.3% vs. 17.4%, respectively. The majority of examined men were farmers, low and middle management and self-employed workers. Among women prevailed clerks, seamstresses and farmers. The most frequent occupational risk factors were: work-related stress, experienced by 54.2% of the examined subjects, occupational noise (45,5%), dust (41,7%) and various chemical factors (33%). A majority of the study group (76.5% women and 54.4% men) linked the cardiac infarction with stress, while 39.1% men vs. 16.5% women correlated it with physical effort. Conclusion: Our studies indicate that, among a wide spectrum of occupational factors, stress, noise and fine particulate dust are major contributors to the increased risk of myocardial infarction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]