GRANT. AFA Insurance continues its investment in the systematic compilation of research reviews in occupational and environmental medicine. Kjell Torén, Professor at the University of Gothenburg, has had supervision of the report production extended.
AFA Insurance has previously invested approximately SEK six million in the compilation, which has, so far, led to a series of reports on the state of research for different diseases and their relationship to both work and factors in the work environment. The project is now renewed, as AFA Insurance is investing a further SEK nine million in the project.
The research review fulfills several objectives, explains Kjell Torén,
“In part, it is about spreading information to the social partners on what we actually know in connection with work, the environment and diseases, which makes room for medical insurance assessments. The reports also show which areas within the work environment should be prioritized in order to prevent diseases. Moreover, gaps in the research become clear, so that research financiers can see which areas most require further research.”
Determine risks
For each research review, two experts in the field are hired to make a systematic assessment of the scientific publications that exist for both experimental studies that clarify the mechanisms behind associated diseases and epidemiological studies that show the statistical connections between diseases and the environment, at the population level. The reports result in a compiled risk assessment.
“The reports do not provide a yes or no to the question of whether or not something is dangerous, instead they provide a comprehensive picture of how dangerous it is, for example, to work with vibrating tools. Vibrating tools must be used with certain kinds of work, and therefore, you need to know if the risk levels for these are acceptable,” explains Kjell Torén.
The reports are judged by a peer review process and published in Arbete och Hälsa (Work and Health) as well as international scientific journals.
An expansive collaboration
Kjell Torén is Chairman of the work group that is responsible for the research reviews, which also includes Maria Albin, Professor in Occupational and Environmental Medicine at Karolinska Institute and Bengt Järvholm, Professor in Occupational Medicine at Umeå University. The project also has a steering committee, where the social partners LO, PTK and the Swedish business community are represented. The steering committee and the work groups decide, together, which diseases are to be dealt with in the research reviews.
At this time, nine research reviews have been published and several more are expected to be ready in the nearest future. As information and research continuously increase over time, Kjell Torén expects some of the reports that are published will need to be redone in order to be actual.
The report that describes how diabetes relates to work capacity has, up to this point, been one of the most requested research reviews from the project and this report has been widely disseminated. Another report proves that working with pesticides significantly increases the risk of acquiring Parkinson’s disease,
“The research review clearly shows that pesticides increase the risk of Parkinson’s disease by 70 percent, which is confirmed both epidemiologically and mechanically. There, we do not need more information, there corrective measures apply,” notes Kjell Torén.
TEXT AND PHOTO: ELIN LINDSTRÖM CLAESSEN
