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Background: Gender specific analysis of the occupational disease of the lumbar spine caused by carrying, lifting, or extreme trunk flexion in Germany (OD No.2108) with the aim to identify areas of focus for prevention and research with a prevention index (PI)., Methods: Data from the German Statutory Accident Insurance stratified by gender are shown., Results: From 2002 until 2009 there were 2,877 confirmed cases of an OD No. 2108 (40.1% male and 59.1% female). The PI indicated the highest prevention need for female nursing/midwifery associate professionals and male building frame and related trades workers. Patient transfer and working in extremely bent posture were the most frequent exposures., Conclusions: The identified occupations with high need for prevention among men come from nearly all major occupational groups whereas women cluster in occupational groups from the health and care sectors., (© 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.)

Introduction: In the large-scale case-control study EPILIFT, we investigated the dose-response relationship between lifestyle factors (weight, smoking amount, cumulative duration of different sports activities) and lumbar disc disease., Methods: In four German study regions (Frankfurt am Main, Freiburg, Halle/Saale, Regensburg), 564 male and female patients with lumbar disc herniation and 351 patients with lumbar disc narrowing (chondrosis) aged 25 to 70 years were prospectively recruited. From the regional population registers, 901 population control subjects were randomly selected. In a structured personal interview, we enquired as to body weight at different ages, body height, cumulative smoking amount and cumulative duration of different sports activities. Confounders were selected according to biological plausibility and to the change-in-estimate criterion. Adjusted, gender-stratified odds ratios with 95% confidence intervals were calculated using unconditional logistic regression analysis., Results: The results of this case-control study reveal a positive association between weight and lumbar disc herniation as well as lumbar disc narrowing among men and women. A medium amount of pack-years was associated with lumbar disc herniation and narrowing in men and women. A non-significantly lowered risk of lumbar disc disease was found in men with high levels of cumulative body building and strength training., Conclusions: According to our multi-center case-control study, body weight might be related to lumbar disc herniation as well as to lumbar disc narrowing. Further research should clarify the potential protective role of body building or strength training on lumbar disc disease.

Purpose: To evaluate the notifications of suspected causes of occupational diseases (NSC) under quality assurance aspects., Methods: We retrospectively analysed the NSC assessed by the institutions for statutory accident insurance and prevention (Berufsgenossenschaft) between 1998 and 2002., Results: Physicians were most frequently represented among the 357,050 notifications (60.2 %). The number of notifications dropped continually between 1998 and 2002. The number and quality of the notifications (NSC) depend on the knowledge of the occupational diseases as well as on the knowledge of the insured persons and on their respective occupational histories. The NSC are issued via the statutory social insurance bodies who are in contact with the patients, and the NSC also depend on the present scientific knowledge of the types of relevant diseases. Usually, the physicians were most frequently the notifiers of occupational diseases, with one exception, namely, incapacitating diseases due to damage to vertebral discs of the lumbar spine caused by many years of lifting of carrying heavy loads or of many years of work in an extremely bent position, in which cases the statutory insurance bodies themselves issued the notifications. Altogether 123,262 notifications were confirmed. The average quota of confirmations was > 40 % with physicians issuing the notifications, > 30 % with statutory pension insurance bodies and only approx. 12 % with notifying statutory sickness insurance bodies. The lowest quota of confirmations - namely, only 3 % - concerned the incapacitating vertebral disc disease of the lumbar spine mentioned above. Non-confirmed notifications of suspected occupational diseases involved an estimated cost of at least 58 million Euro., Discussion: On-target improvement of the quality of notification of suspected occupational diseases is possible by exploring several avenues, including on-target assessment of evaluation criteria reporting by the statutory accident insurance bodies concerned and by regular advice rendered to the statutory social insurance bodies by occupational therapists.

Since 1993 occupational influences of the spine are included into the German workman's compensation law (Berufskrankheitenverordnung). Because it is difficult to differentiate degenerative from occupational disc diseases only 3 % of the proposals have been accepted in the last years. Unfortunately most of the epidemiologic studies only consider morphologic changes of the spine but not discogenic diseases. More efforts have to be made to prevent spine diseases in the working place by exercises and back training. Our results of medical opinions in 256 cases of occupational spine diseases are presented and analysed.

It is difficult to find medical evidence of a correlation between a lumbar disk disease and trauma. One should consider whether the individual degeneration of lumbar disks or the trauma lead to the typical complaints. Disk disease in the population are very common. Therefore the relevance of the individual affection before trauma has to be considered. Spinal trauma with its sudden, incidental onset needs to be differentiated from purposeful and conscious movements. An intervertebral disk disease can be classified as accident related only in cases involving adequate trauma, with no previous complains, and a sudden onset of pain.

The present paper illustrates the insurance-law aspects of isolated traumatic disc herniation in Germany. The significance of the different terms of insurance in both the personal and the social accident insurance for medical expert opinion is elucidated.