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Objectives: To assess the mental health and wellbeing of health and aged care workers in Australia during the second and third years of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID‐19) pandemic, overall and by occupation group. Design, setting, participants: Longitudinal cohort study of health and aged care workers (ambulance, hospitals, primary care, residential aged care) in Victoria: May–July 2021 (survey 1), October–December 2021 (survey 2), and May–June 2022 (survey 3). Main outcome measures: Proportions of respondents (adjusted for age, gender, socio‐economic status) reporting moderate to severe symptoms of depression (Patient Health Questionnaire‐9, PHQ‐9), anxiety (Generalized Anxiety Disorder scale, GAD‐7), or post‐traumatic stress (Impact of Event Scale‐6, IES‐6), burnout (abbreviated Maslach Burnout Inventory, aMBI), or high optimism (10‐point visual analogue scale); mean scores (adjusted for age, gender, socio‐economic status) for wellbeing (Personal Wellbeing Index–Adult, PWI‐A) and resilience (Connor Davidson Resilience Scale 2, CD‐RISC‐2). Results: A total of 1667 people responded to at least one survey (survey 1, 989; survey 2, 1153; survey 3, 993; response rate, 3.3%). Overall, 1211 survey responses were from women (72.6%); most respondents were hospital workers (1289, 77.3%) or ambulance staff (315, 18.9%). The adjusted proportions of respondents who reported moderate to severe symptoms of depression (survey 1, 16.4%; survey 2, 22.6%; survey 3, 19.2%), anxiety (survey 1, 8.8%; survey 2, 16.0%; survey 3, 11.0%), or post‐traumatic stress (survey 1, 14.6%; survey 2, 35.1%; survey 3, 14.9%) were each largest for survey 2. The adjusted proportions of participants who reported moderate to severe symptoms of burnout were higher in surveys 2 and 3 than in survey 1, and the proportions who reported high optimism were smaller in surveys 2 and 3 than in survey 1. Adjusted mean scores for wellbeing and resilience were similar at surveys 2 and 3 and lower than at survey 1. The magnitude but not the patterns of change differed by occupation group. Conclusion: Burnout was more frequently reported and mean wellbeing and resilience scores were lower in mid‐2022 than in mid‐2021 for Victorian health and aged care workers who participated in our study. Evidence‐based mental health and wellbeing programs for workers in health care organisations are needed. Trial registration: Australian New Zealand Clinical Trials Registry: ACTRN12621000533897 (observational study; retrospective). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It has been reported that weather-related high ambient temperature is associated with an increased risk of work-related injury. Understanding this relationship is important because work-related injuries are a major public health problem, and because projected climate changes will potentially expose workers to hot days, including consecutive hot days, more often. The aim of this study was to quantify the impact of exposure to sustained periods of hot weather on work-related injury risk for workers in Melbourne, Australia. A time-stratified case crossover study design was utilised to examine the association between two and three consecutive days and two and three consecutive nights of hot weather and the risk of work-related injury, using definitions of hot weather ranging from the 60th to the 95th percentile of daily maximum and minimum temperatures for the Melbourne metropolitan area, 2002-2012. Workers' compensation claim data was used to identify cases of acute work-related injury. Overall, two and three consecutive days of hot weather were associated with an increased risk of injury, with this effect becoming apparent at a daily maximum temperature of 27.6 °C (70th percentile). Three consecutive days of high but not extreme temperatures were associated with the strongest effect, with a 15% increased risk of injury (odds ratio 1.15, 95% confidence interval 1.01-1.30) observed when daily maximum temperature was ≥33.3 °C (90th percentile) for three consecutive days, compared to when it was not. At a threshold of 35.5 °C (95th percentile), there was no significant association between temperature and injury for either two or three consecutive days of heat. These findings suggest that warnings to minimise harm to workers from hot weather should be given, and prevention protocol initiated, when consecutive warm days of temperatures lower than extreme heat temperatures are forecast, and well before the upper ranges of ambient daytime temperatures are reached. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A number of studies have suggested that environmental contamination with organochlorine pesticides may be related to risk of breast cancer. To investigate this association in a rural part of Australia, organochlorine contamination data from a breast milk organochlorine study conducted in the state of Victoria in 1993 were used. The state was divided into 11 statistical divisions. Standardized incidence ratios (SIRs) for the 11 regions were calculated using breast cancer incidence data from 1983 to 2002. During that time, 47,250 breast cancer cases occurred in Victoria, which had an average population of 2,147,409 women. The Ovens-Murray region, which was the region most contaminated with organochlorine pesticides, showed an elevated SIR of 1.10 (95%CI, 1.03–1.17), although two other regions with lower organochlorine contamination levels also had elevated SIRs. The rural part of the Ovens-Murray region, where the main pesticide use occurred, had the highest SIR, 1.15 (95%CI, 1.07–1.23). We did not find any significant correlation between organochlorine contamination and the age-standardized rate of breast cancer across all regions. But a positive dose-response relationship using an adjusted negative binomial model was detected for heptachlor epoxide. Our study may provide limited support for the role of environmental contamination with organochlorine pesticides in the development of breast cancer. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Due to climate change, catastrophic events such as landscape fires are increasing in frequency and severity. However, relatively little is known about the longer-term mental health outcomes of such events. Follow-up was conducted of 709 adults exposed to smoke from the 2014 Hazelwood mine fire in Morwell, Victoria, Australia. Participants completed two surveys evaluating posttraumatic distress, measured using the Impact of Events Scale-Revised (IES-R), three and six years after the mine fire. Mixed-effects regression models were used to evaluate longitudinal changes in distress. IES-R total scores increased on average by 2.6 points (95%CI: 1.2 to 3.9 points) between the two survey rounds, with increases across all three posttraumatic distress symptom clusters, particularly intrusive symptoms. This increase in distress was evident across all levels of fine particulate matter (PM2.5) exposure to the mine fire smoke. Age was an effect modifier between mine fire PM2.5 exposure and posttraumatic distress, with younger adults impacted more by exposure to the mine fire. Greater exposure to PM2.5 from the mine fire was still associated with increased psychological distress some six years later, with the overall level of distress increasing between the two survey rounds. The follow-up survey coincided with the Black Summer bushfire season in south-eastern Australia and exposure to this new smoke event may have triggered distress sensitivities stemming from exposure to the earlier mine fire. Public health responses to disaster events should take into consideration prior exposures and vulnerable groups, particularly younger adults. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]