Value of occupational medicine fitness and monitoring studies in adolescents with regard to prevention of occupationally-induced diseases
Hartmann, B.; Reum, P.J.
Zeitschrift für die Gesamte Hygiene und ihre Grenzgebiete 32(5): 307-309
1986
ISSN/ISBN: 0049-8610 PMID: 3751170 Document Number: 284629
The prophylaxis of diseases conditioned by exercise requires, among other items, the increase of susceptibility for findings involving no current functional impairment. With juvenile workers, it has been found by means of three-dimensional contingency table analyses that the number of findings without importance with regard to functional impairment of ears, circulatory system, digestive system and skin as well as results caused by injuries increases with increasing exposure time. An incidence comparison of all findings obtained with juveniles aged 15 to 25 years with the functionally impairing findings found with workers aged 35 to 44 years revealed approximate correspondence for the auditory organ, circulatory system and kidneys/urinary passage, an even lower incidence rate with juveniles for the digestive system, nervous system and obesity. However, lowgrade findings obtained at the supporting and locomotor apparatus, skin, metabolic system and results of injuries, which show also the most pronounced differences in the physicians' assessments, have only low prognostic value. An increased effectivity of prophylactic examinations requires also the selection on a scientific basis in documenting low-grade findings with a view to prognosis.