Health problems of women in the world of work - gynaecologic problems in occupational medicine

Status:

completed 12/1994

Aims:

Harmonisation of work protection covering the lifting and carrying of heavy loads. Goal: The delineation of work-related factors from external factors resulting in gynaecological damage; the development of new examination techniques (ultrasound) for determining individual predisposition (constitution of connective tissue), determining the suitability of sonographic examination for occupational medical screening

Activities/Methods:

Retrospective and case-control study; occupational case histories in accordance with specific occupational medical questionnaires; use of sonographic vein calibration measurements to determine an elasticity coefficient which correlates with a perivenous connective tissue weakness

Results:

Indications of a correlation between the connective tissue elasticity determined by the vein calibration measurement and the risk of urinal incontinence. In the order of stress factors correlating with urinal incontinence, the endogenous factors "over-weight" and "parity" (number of births), come before occupational/exogenous factors such as "lifting and carrying", "cold work places" and "mentally stressful forms of work". The long term success of incontinence operations is made significantly worse by excessive endogenous as well as exogenous demands.

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