Factors associated with self-reported exposure to chemical substances at work in Brazil: results from the National Health Survey, 2013

• Autor(a) principal: Assunção, Ada Ávila
• Data de Publicação: 2020
• Outros Autores: Abreu, Mery Natali Silva, Souza, Priscila Sílvia Nunes
• Tipo de documento: Artigo
• Idioma: por; eng
• Título da fonte: Revista de Saúde Pública
• Texto Completo: https://www.revistas.usp.br/rsp/article/view/176870
• topic: Occupational exposure; Chemical Compounds; Working conditions; Occupational Health; Health Surveys; National Survey on Health; Exposição ocupacional; Compostos Químicos; Condições de Trabalho; Saúde do Trabalhador; Inquéritos Epidemiológicos; Pesquisa Nacional de Saúde

OBJECTIVE: To describe the prevalence of self-reported exposure to chemical substances atwork and its associated factors in a sample of Brazilian adults that participated in the NationalHealth Survey, conducted between 2013 and 2014.METHODS: Our sample consisted of adults aged 18 years or older that answered question E1 ofmodule E: “In the week of July 21-27, 2013 (reference week), did you work as regular employeeor intern for at least an hour in any activity paid with cash?” Sociodemographic data, situationand health behaviors were analyzed with single and multivariate binary logistic regression. Themodel was adjusted by the variables of all groups, adopting a 5% significance level. The valuesof odds ratio (OR) and respective confidence intervals were obtained.RESULTS: Women (OR = 0.74; 95%CI 0.66–0.82) had a lower chance of exposure to chemicals.The highest chances were observed in groups with no instruction or that attended up tomiddle-school (OR = 1.77; 95%CI 1.50–2.08), high school (OR = 1.62; 95%CI 1.37–1.91), age between25 and 54 years (OR = 1.26; 95%CI 1.07–1.48), current smokers (OR = 1.21; 95%CI 1.07–1.37), whoreported tiredness (OR = 1.35; 95%CI 1.21–1.50), hearing difficulties (OR = 1.24; 95%CI 1.04–1.48)and who reported having suffered an accident at work (OR = 2.00; 95%CI 1.57–2.54).CONCLUSIONS: The unprecedented results cover the entire workforce. Positive associationswith hearing loss, smoking and history of work accidents are consistent, as well as the inverseassociation with education level and gender differences. The absence of association withasthma was surprising. To fill gaps in investigations on chronic non-communicable diseases,we suggested improving the PNS collection instrument in the occupational dimension.