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Estimate of Occupational Exposure to Carcinogens among Migrant Workers in the United Arab Emirates: A Cross-Sectional Study

Occupational illnesses, such as cancer, cause more deaths each year than occupational accidents. Occupational carcinogens include physical, chemical, biological and organizational hazards. In the United Arab Emirates (UAE), migrant workers account for 80% of labor. Being sometimes employed as unskil...

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Autores principales: Elbarazi, Iffat, El-Zaemey, Sonia, Saddik, Basema, Ádám, Balázs, El Sadig, Mohamed, Abdullahi, Aminu S., Fritschi, Lin, Sheek-Hussein, Mohamud
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: MDPI 2022
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9602412/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/36293617
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph192013012
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author Elbarazi, Iffat
El-Zaemey, Sonia
Saddik, Basema
Ádám, Balázs
El Sadig, Mohamed
Abdullahi, Aminu S.
Fritschi, Lin
Sheek-Hussein, Mohamud
author_facet Elbarazi, Iffat
El-Zaemey, Sonia
Saddik, Basema
Ádám, Balázs
El Sadig, Mohamed
Abdullahi, Aminu S.
Fritschi, Lin
Sheek-Hussein, Mohamud
author_sort Elbarazi, Iffat
collection PubMed
description Occupational illnesses, such as cancer, cause more deaths each year than occupational accidents. Occupational carcinogens include physical, chemical, biological and organizational hazards. In the United Arab Emirates (UAE), migrant workers account for 80% of labor. Being sometimes employed as unskilled workers and more willing to work in demanding jobs, their vulnerability and exposure may be increased. This study aimed to estimate the prevalence of occupational exposure to workplace carcinogens among migrant workers in the UAE. A sample of employees working in construction, cleaning, dry cleaning, mechanic workshops and hair salons were recruited and interviewed. Using OccIDEAS (an online assessment tool), participants were asked questions about their demographics, work history and regular tasks. Exposure to various carcinogens was estimated using the in-built algorithms of OccIDEAS. A sample of 1778 workers was included. The sample consisted of workers from Bangladesh (19.2%), India (31%), Nepal (4.7%), Pakistan (29.9%) and the Philippines (4.8%), with the rest from other nationalities. Overall, the prevalence of probable exposure was considerable, with the highest among drivers (96%) and the lowest among laundry workers (52%). Moderate to high exposure was found to 20 different carcinogens. Self-rated health among those who were exposed to carcinogens was significantly lower than among those not exposed (AOR = 0.783, 95% CI [0.638–0.961]). Exposure to several different carcinogens is relatively common in the UAE among migrant workers. Further strengthening policies and the implementation of tailored interventions are needed to prevent exposure to occupational carcinogens and, consequently, to combat occupational cancer in the UAE.
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spelling pubmed-96024122022-10-27 Estimate of Occupational Exposure to Carcinogens among Migrant Workers in the United Arab Emirates: A Cross-Sectional Study Elbarazi, Iffat El-Zaemey, Sonia Saddik, Basema Ádám, Balázs El Sadig, Mohamed Abdullahi, Aminu S. Fritschi, Lin Sheek-Hussein, Mohamud Int J Environ Res Public Health Article Occupational illnesses, such as cancer, cause more deaths each year than occupational accidents. Occupational carcinogens include physical, chemical, biological and organizational hazards. In the United Arab Emirates (UAE), migrant workers account for 80% of labor. Being sometimes employed as unskilled workers and more willing to work in demanding jobs, their vulnerability and exposure may be increased. This study aimed to estimate the prevalence of occupational exposure to workplace carcinogens among migrant workers in the UAE. A sample of employees working in construction, cleaning, dry cleaning, mechanic workshops and hair salons were recruited and interviewed. Using OccIDEAS (an online assessment tool), participants were asked questions about their demographics, work history and regular tasks. Exposure to various carcinogens was estimated using the in-built algorithms of OccIDEAS. A sample of 1778 workers was included. The sample consisted of workers from Bangladesh (19.2%), India (31%), Nepal (4.7%), Pakistan (29.9%) and the Philippines (4.8%), with the rest from other nationalities. Overall, the prevalence of probable exposure was considerable, with the highest among drivers (96%) and the lowest among laundry workers (52%). Moderate to high exposure was found to 20 different carcinogens. Self-rated health among those who were exposed to carcinogens was significantly lower than among those not exposed (AOR = 0.783, 95% CI [0.638–0.961]). Exposure to several different carcinogens is relatively common in the UAE among migrant workers. Further strengthening policies and the implementation of tailored interventions are needed to prevent exposure to occupational carcinogens and, consequently, to combat occupational cancer in the UAE. MDPI 2022-10-11 /pmc/articles/PMC9602412/ /pubmed/36293617 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph192013012 Text en © 2022 by the authors. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
spellingShingle Article
Elbarazi, Iffat
El-Zaemey, Sonia
Saddik, Basema
Ádám, Balázs
El Sadig, Mohamed
Abdullahi, Aminu S.
Fritschi, Lin
Sheek-Hussein, Mohamud
Estimate of Occupational Exposure to Carcinogens among Migrant Workers in the United Arab Emirates: A Cross-Sectional Study
title Estimate of Occupational Exposure to Carcinogens among Migrant Workers in the United Arab Emirates: A Cross-Sectional Study
title_full Estimate of Occupational Exposure to Carcinogens among Migrant Workers in the United Arab Emirates: A Cross-Sectional Study
title_fullStr Estimate of Occupational Exposure to Carcinogens among Migrant Workers in the United Arab Emirates: A Cross-Sectional Study
title_full_unstemmed Estimate of Occupational Exposure to Carcinogens among Migrant Workers in the United Arab Emirates: A Cross-Sectional Study
title_short Estimate of Occupational Exposure to Carcinogens among Migrant Workers in the United Arab Emirates: A Cross-Sectional Study
title_sort estimate of occupational exposure to carcinogens among migrant workers in the united arab emirates: a cross-sectional study
topic Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9602412/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/36293617
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph192013012
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