articles by Maryam Saraei
Journal of Obstetrics, Gynecology and Cancer Research, 2021
Background & Objective: Gestational hypertension (GH) is considered as one of the important healt... more Background & Objective: Gestational hypertension (GH) is considered as one of the important health-related issues of pregnant women. One of the raised problems in the pathogenesis of GH is obstructive sleep apnea (OSA). This study aimed to evaluate associated factors of OSA among an employed pregnant population. Materials & Methods: In this study, 200 employed pregnant women with GH as the case group and 200 healthy pregnant ones as the control group were enrolled. Blood pressure >140/90 after 20 weeks of gestational age without proteinuria was defined as GH. Chi-square and Mann-Whitney tests were applied for statistical analysis. Results: Mean ± SD of age and body mass index (BMI) were 32.85 ± 5.45 (years) and 31.85±5.97 (kg/m2) among the case group, respectively. Participants with GH had higher mean BMI, neck circumference, and more frequency of snoring than the control group, which was statistically significant (P<0.012, P<0.025, and P<0.007, respectively). Sales and service occupations consisted the group with the highest frequency of GH. Conclusion: Participants with GH had higher BMI, snoring, observed apnea, and neck circumference. This observation warrants comprehensive assessment of OSA and related risk factors among patients with GH.
Papers by Maryam Saraei
Journal of the Turkish-German Gynecological Association, Jun 13, 2024
Results in engineering, May 1, 2024
Sleep medicine, Feb 1, 2024
Indian Journal of Otolaryngology and Head & Neck Surgery, Jun 29, 2021
Noise and organic solvents are common in many industries and both of them affect hearing. In this... more Noise and organic solvents are common in many industries and both of them affect hearing. In this study, we estimated the concurrent effect of them on hearing by evaluating the existence of notch in audiograms of workers. The number of 540 persons were enrolled in this study after eliminating workers who had the exclusion criteria. We divided them into 4 groups based on their exposure status; no exposure, exposure to noise, exposure to solvent, exposure to both of them. The presence of notch in left, right, or both ears were assessed through Coles model. The rates of notch presence in both ears in the groups of noise and organic solvents exposure, noise exposure only, solvents exposure only were 11.72, 4.49, 1.86 times higher than the control group and sole solvent exposure didn't affect hearing significantly. The same pattern was seen for notch presence in left or right ear and the solvent-noise exposure group had the highest rate of notch presence. This study aims to show the synergic effect of noise and organic solvents exposure on hearing loss. Hence, we recommend implementing a hearing protection program and a higher frequency of audiological assessments in the industries involved with concurrent exposure to noise and organic solvents.
Journal of sleep sciences, Dec 6, 2016
Background and Objective: Obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) is considered a common sleep disorder tha... more Background and Objective: Obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) is considered a common sleep disorder that increases the risk of traffic accidents among drivers. This study aimed to assess the association between Mallampati score and STOP-BANG (Snoring, Tiredness, Observed apnea, Blood Pressure, Body Mass Index, Age, Neck circumference, Gender) score in commercial drivers. Materials and Methods: 1743 male drivers referred for their health license were recruited in this cross-sectional study during September 2013 to December 2015 in Baharloo Hospital, Tehran, Iran. The Persian version of the STOP-BANG questionnaire was used. STO symptoms were self-reported by drivers. Age, height (m), weight (kg), blood pressure (mmHg), neck circumference (cm), and Mallampati score were recorded by physician. STO and P-BANG scores were computed for all the participants. Data were analyzed using ANOVA test for comparing means among different classes of Mallampati score. Results: Among 1743 participated drivers, mean (SD) age was 41 (10.6) years. STOP-BANG score was < 3 in 90.0% of them. Mallampati class II was the most frequent (36.0%) following by I, III, and IV, respectively. STO score was more likely to be higher in classes III and IV with no significant association. P-BANG score had significant linear correlation with Mallampati score (df: 3, F: 34, P < 0.001). STOP-BANG score was associated with higher Mallampati score (df: 3, F: 31, P < 0.001). Conclusion: STOP-BANG and P-BANG scores were significantly associated with Mallampati score. Mallampati score may be used as a screening parameter for OSA in commercial drivers along with available tools such as STOP-BANG and Epworth Sleepiness Scale that is mainly based on self-reports of drivers.
PubMed, Jul 1, 2013
DEAR EDITOR, Now‐a‐days, preventive medicine and its important arm, occupational and environmenta... more DEAR EDITOR, Now‐a‐days, preventive medicine and its important arm, occupational and environmental medicine, are in the limelight more than ever before. Science production in this field of medicine is growing very fast and in recent years, many scientific journals have published specifically occupational and environmental health articles in Iran. According to the section 92 of Iranian labor law, employers should provide free annually medical examination for employees at risk. These annually comprehensive medical databases are ideal for researchers because of no or very low additional time and cost. On the other hand, workers, especially temporary workers and those with lack of job security avoid any responses to subjective questions of occupational health team that may lead to loss of job, deterioration of working conditions or loss of job promotions; questions such as drug usage, alcohol consumption or even tobacco usage, history of some diseases and etc., Also, admitting to some subjective symptoms can impose time and cost for additional diagnostic test or medical consultation to employees, for example, 1Department of Occupational Medicine, School of Medicine, Hormozgan University of Medical Sciences, Bandar Abbas, Iran, 2Department of Occupational Medicine, Center for Research on Occupational Diseases, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran
Nephro-urology monthly, Feb 24, 2015
Background: Despite being frequently described, Restless Leg Syndrome (RLS) in patients, who are ... more Background: Despite being frequently described, Restless Leg Syndrome (RLS) in patients, who are on hemodialysis, is a common disease which, has not been well documented in Iran. Objectives: The current study aimed to investigate the prevalence of RLS and its sleep disorders in Iranian patients on hemodialysis. Patients and Methods: In this multicenter cross sectional study, 397 consecutive patients on hemodialysis were evaluated by face-toface interviews. RLS was diagnosed using the International RLS Study Group (IRLSS) criteria. In addition, three validated sleep disorder questionnaires (Insomnia Severity Index, Epworth sleepiness scale and Pittsburgh sleep quality index) were completed by the patients. Results: One hundred-twenty-six patients with RLS (31.7%; mean age 57.6 ± 15.4 years) participated in the current study. RLS mostly occurs in females (P < 0.001). RLS cases showed poorer quality of sleep (Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index > 5, P = 0.001), higher scores of Epworth Sleepiness Scale (P < 0.001) and insomnia severity index (P = 0.001). Except thyroid gland dysfunction (P < 0.03, OR ≈ 2.50) and antihypertensive medications (P < 0.01, OR ≈ 1.7), there were no significant differences between age, duration of dialysis, etiology of renal insufficiency, intake of nicotine, alcohol or caffeine, and other associated comorbidities between the patients with and without RLS. Conclusions: In the current study, prevalence of RLS was near the weighted-mean prevalence of other studies (mean 30%, range 8%t-52%). This is not just racial variability and may attribute to narrow or wide definition of the disease, plus variations of the prevalence recording time, and sometimes not using the standard criteria or standard interview.
Sleep Medicine, Dec 1, 2019
Background and Objective: Obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) is a common sleep-disordered breathing (S... more Background and Objective: Obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) is a common sleep-disordered breathing (SDB) characterized by intermittent hypoxemia (IH). OSA and IH are considered risk factors for increased hearing thresholds as well. Furthermore, thresholds of speech frequency affect personal fitness for driving. Thus, main purpose of this study was to assess the association between speech frequency thresholds and OSA among commercial drivers. Materials and Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted on 1000 commercial drivers who were referred to obtain a health license at the Occupational Medicine Clinic of Baharloo Hospital, Tehran, Iran. Blood pressure, neck size, weight, and height were recorded. Validated Persian version of Epworth Sleepiness Scale (ESS) and STOP-BANG questionnaire were completed by the participants. STOP-BANG score ≥ 3 was defined as high risk for OSA. Fast blood sugar (FBS), triglyceride (TG), and total cholesterol (TC) were measured for all drivers. Hearing threshold levels of all subjects were recorded by pure tone audiometry (PTA) in frequencies of 500, 1000, 2000, and 3000 Hz for each ear in decibels (dB). Results: The mean age of the participants was 43.0 ± 9.9 years. The mean ESS and STOP-BANG scores of the participants were 3.1 ± 2.8 and 1.8 ± 0.8, respectively. 237 (23.7%) drivers were high-risk for OSA. Participants with OSA had significantly higher thresholds of speech frequencies compared to the low-risk ones (P < 0.0001). Conclusion: OSA may be also considered as a risk factor for increased thresholds of speech frequency among commercial drivers. During drivers' periodic medical examination, evaluation of OSA as a strong risk factor for increasing hearing thresholds is recommended.
International journal of occupational hygiene, Jul 24, 2018
Spirometry is a tool for screening and early diagnosis of harms caused by occupational respirator... more Spirometry is a tool for screening and early diagnosis of harms caused by occupational respiratory exposures. Since spirometry results largely depend on the spirometry method, their credibility and acceptability may vary. Accordingly, this cross-sectional study was conducted to assess the quality of spirometry procedures and reports in the periodic examinations of workers in an industry. The study assessed a total number of 506 recorded spirometry test results related to the periodic examinations of 190 workers in an industry between 2005 and 2015. Each test was assessed in terms of ATS (American Thoracic Society) standards and the quality of reporting, and the obtained results were compared with the spirometry tests conducted by the research team. The most common error in performing these tests was the failure to allow for the 6-second exhalation (in 70% of the cases). After removing the effect of increasing age, it was found that the reported FVC (Forced Vital Capacity) and FEV1 (Forced Expiratory Volume in one second) in these tests were different from those in the standard spirometry tests performed by the research team by 5% in more than half of the cases and by more than 10% in a quarter of the cases. The results revealed the poor quality of the spirometry tests in the periodic examinations of the workers. Therefore, it is recommended to train the spirometry operators and monitor more vigorously the quality of spirometry tests in the occupational examinations.
Journal of Mazandaran University of Medical Sciences, Mar 15, 2013
The best example of irritant induced occupational asthma is reactive airways dysfunction syndrome... more The best example of irritant induced occupational asthma is reactive airways dysfunction syndrome (RADS) which is usually unregarded. We present a 29-year-old security guard from an Iranian car manufacturing company who was exposed to heavy smoke during a fire in work place in five years ago. He was referred because of his persistent asthma like symptoms after that accident to determin the accosiation between profession and the symptoms. He fulfilled criteria for RADS according to Brook's criteria, therefore his asthma was reported as work related.
Work-a Journal of Prevention Assessment & Rehabilitation, May 19, 2022
BACKGROUND: Sleep disturbance including insomnia and poor sleep quality has been shown to be a ma... more BACKGROUND: Sleep disturbance including insomnia and poor sleep quality has been shown to be a major health determinant in occupational settings. Specific occupational exposures to hazards in most workplaces can lead to various health problems, especially sleep problems. OBJECTIVE: The study aimed to investigate sleep characteristics, and their relationships with work-related exposures, demographics, and other related variables in workers of a smelting factory. METHODS: This cross-sectional study was carried out on workers in a 40-year smelting factory located in the East of Tehran Province. A total of 200 male participants were included in the study. Among them, 51 workers were from the production process staff and the rest were office workers. Their shifts were from 6 AM to 5 PM. All participants were asked about demographic characteristics and exposure to respiratory pollutants. All participants answered validated Persian versions of the Insomnia Severity Index (ISI) and the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI). RESULTS: The means (SD) of age and BMI were 39.1 (8.9) years and 26.8 (4.5) kg/m2, respectively. Among all participants, 51 (25.5%) experienced exposure to a respiratory pollutant. Among all workers, 96 (48%) experienced poor sleep quality and 87 (43.5%) and 10 (5%) had subthreshold and clinical insomnia, respectively. The mean (SD) night sleep duration was 6.4 (0.96) hours. Data analysis illustrated a significant positive relationship between exposure to respiratory pollutants and insomnia (p-value = 0.03). Howewer, this association between sleep quality and exposure to repiratory pollutants was not significant (p-value = 0.25). Further analysis with binominal regression showed participants with exposure to respiratory pollutants were more susceptible to clinical insomnia (p-value = 0.02, exp(B) = 0.213), and after regressing out the effect of smoking, participants with exposure to respiratory pollutants remained susceptible to clinical insomnia. A lower night sleep duration was observed among participants with exposure to inhalational material (p-value = 0.05). CONCLUSIONS: Occupational exposures to hazardous material, including inhalational exposures, could cause sleep disturbance, which warrants more attention paid by sleep specialists.
PubMed, Apr 1, 2019
Background: Automobile spray painting is considered a high-risk occupation for respiratory diseas... more Background: Automobile spray painting is considered a high-risk occupation for respiratory diseases. The present survey aimed to assess the effects of automobile paint vapors on spirometric parameters among workers of a painting workshop in a large automobile manufacturing plant in Iran. Materials and methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted on 820 workers of an automobile manufacturing plant, including 431 spray painters (case group) and 389 assembly line workers (control group). Spirometry was conducted for all participants under standard conditions, according to the American Thoracic Society (ATS) Clinical Practice Guidelines. The forced expiratory volume in one second (FEV1), forced vital capacity (FVC), FEV1/FVC, and forced expiratory flow at 25% and 75% of the pulmonary volume (FEF25-75) were reported. Results: Painters with more than ten years of work experience had significantly lower predicted values of FEV1/FVC (P= 0.005), FEV1 (P=0.008), and FEF25-75 (P=0.003), compared to the control group. Also, painters who were exposed to solvent-based paints were not significantly different from those exposed to water-based paints in terms of spirometric parameters (P>0.05). Conclusion: The results indicated the impact of automobile spray painting on the spirometric parameters. A slight decrease in the mean values of these parameters calls for attention to occupational safety, regular medical examinations, and effective measures.
Hospital practices and research, Jan 28, 2018
Background: Absence from work for health reasons is known as "sickness absenteeism". Frequent sic... more Background: Absence from work for health reasons is known as "sickness absenteeism". Frequent sick leave is a major concern to any organization, especially hospitals. Objective: This study analyzed the extent and causes of sickness absenteeism in a teaching hospital and evaluated its corelation with demographic and occupational factors. Methods: In a cross-sectional study, data was extracted from computerized records regarding sickness absenteeism of healthcare workers (HCWs) in the Occupational Health Department of a teaching hospital in Tehran. Studied variables included demographic characteristics, occupational factors, and causes of sickness absenteeism. The sickness absence rate (SAR) and absence frequency rate (AFR) in the study period were calculated. Chi-square and Mann-Whitney tests were used for the comparison of categorical and quantitative variables, respectively. Results: In the current study, SAR and AFR were 0.011 and 0.68, respectively. Job type was the only factor that had a significant correlation with sickness absenteeism. The major disease-causing sicknesses were flu (21%) and musculoskeletal disorders (18.9%). Conclusion: A significant relationship was found between the nursing group and sickness absence episodes. Flu, musculoskeletal disorders, and infectious diseases were the most frequent causes of sickness absence. Based on these findings, it can be concluded that factors such as availability of the flu vaccine and providing principles of personal protection and infection control can reduce sickness absence due to infectious disease.
International Journal of Occupational Medicine and Environmental Health, Nov 18, 2016
Identifying factors predictive of early return to work in patients who underwent a coronary arter... more Identifying factors predictive of early return to work in patients who underwent a coronary artery bypass graft surgery (CABG). Material and Methods: Two hundred twenty-six working patients who volunteered and underwent a primary coronary artery bypass surgery between September 2013 and May 2014 were selected for the study and followed up for 6 months. Predictors of early return to work (RTW) (within 2 months) were analyzed from variables in a prospectively collected database and the 36-Item Short Form Health Survey (SF-36) questionnaire carried out in the hospital and rehabilitation center as well as from the follow-up performed via the phone. Results: One hundred and two (45.1%) and 155 (68.9%) patients returned to work within 2 and 3 months after the surgery, respectively. Furthermore, 196 patients (87.1%) returned to work within 6 months after the surgery. In the univariate analysis, demographic or socioeconomic factors (such as age, level of education, income), occupational factors (such as occupation type, working hours per week, duration of the preoperative absence from work), psychological factors (such as a patient's concern about adverse health effects of RTW, feeling depressed, a patient's attitude towards his/her ability to RTW and a patient's perception of his/her job stress level) and medical factors (such as serum troponin T and creatine kinase MB (CKMB) level, pump time in surgery, co-surgery and dyslipidemia history) had a statistically significant correlation with early return to work. The patients who early returned to work had significantly higher scores in 3 domains on the SF-36 questionnaire (used for assessing the patients' quality of life), compared to those who did not return to work early (including physical functioning, role limitations due to physical health and pain). Conclusions: In the present study we identified 4 new medical factors that could be used as predictors of early return to work after CABG. These factors are: normal serum troponin T level, shorter pump time in surgery, normal mean arterial pressure (MAP) before the surgery and higher serum magnesium (Mg) levels.
Journal of diabetes and metabolic disorders, Feb 1, 2021
BackgroundThe relationship between job stress and each component of metabolic syndrome has been p... more BackgroundThe relationship between job stress and each component of metabolic syndrome has been previously suggested; however, this association is not consistent. The present study was conducted to assess the association between job stress and metabolic syndrome and its components in a group of Iranian workers affiliated with Tehran University of Medical Sciences.MethodologyThis cross-sectional study was performed on 3,537 randomly selected staff in Tehran University of Medical Sciences including the staff of clinical, administrative, and service departments with at least one year of working experience. The overall frequency of metabolic syndrome was assessed based on the international diabetes federation (IDF) criteria. The Persian version of the Copenhagen Psychosocial Questionnaire (COPSOQ) was used to measure major domains of psychosocial factors in the workplace.ResultsThe overall frequency of metabolic syndrome in the assessed personnel was estimated to be 22.1 % and there was a significantly higher rate of metabolic syndrome in office workers and service personnel compared to clinical staff (OR: 1.51, CI 95 %: 1.25–1.82 and OR: 1.74, CI 95 %: 1.41–2.14, respectively). Health and well-being as a major domain of COPSOQ was found to be significantly impaired by the presence of metabolic syndrome. According to the results of multiple logistic regression modeling, the relationship between metabolic syndrome and impaired health and well-being domain remained significant after adjusting for age, gender, marital status, educational level, and employment category.ConclusionsOur findings revealed a close association between job-related stress and the impaired well-being in the presence of metabolic syndrome among the medical university staff.
Sleep Medicine, Dec 1, 2019
Diabetes and Metabolic Syndrome: Clinical Research and Reviews, 2019
Background In recent decades, metabolic syndrome is one of the most important public health risk ... more Background In recent decades, metabolic syndrome is one of the most important public health risk factors. Having this in mind, the present study was conducted to evaluate the frequency of metabolic syndrome and its associated risk factors in healthcare workers. Method This study is a cross-sectional study conducted on 410 healthcare workers in a teaching hospital in Iran. Demographic, occupational, and psychosocial characteristics were assessed using questionnaire. Assessment of metabolic syndrome of hospital staff was performed at workplace during their medical examination. Results The frequency of metabolic syndrome was found to be 22.4%. This relationship was found among blood pressure and occupational stress, despite the fact that there was no significant relationship between metabolic syndrome and occupational stress. Higher age, having shift work, and inactivity were associated with metabolic syndrome. Conclusion Considering the high frequency of metabolic syndrome among Iranian healthcare workers, it is advised that effective management should be employed to correct the occupational and psychosocial factors associated with this syndrome.
DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals), Aug 1, 2019
Noise-Induced Hearing Loss (NIHL) is one of the most common occupational disorders. Different cha... more Noise-Induced Hearing Loss (NIHL) is one of the most common occupational disorders. Different characteristics of environmental or occupational exposure as well as individual differences trigger NIHL. This study was aimed to evaluate the effect of blood groups, Rhesus (Rh) antigen, and serum cholesterol, triglyceride, and glucose level as risk factors of NIHL. A total number of 1900 drivers who attended the occupational medicine clinic of Baharloo Hospital for the annual health-test of drivers were entered to the study. Pure tone audiometry test was performed for all subjects, blood group, serum cholesterol, triglyceride, and glucose levels were measured. Coles, Lutman, and Buffin's (2000) algorithm were used to identify notched audiograms. A total number of 752 out of 1900 drivers (39.6%) were identified with notched audiograms. No significant difference was observed in serum glucose, cholesterol, and triglyceride between the two groups according to the presence of high-frequency notches. The distribution of blood groups in the study group was as follows: O (36.7%), A (34.1%), B (22.7%), AB (6.5%). There was no significant relationship between blood groups and hearing thresholds or between Rh antigens and high-frequency notch. The results of this study was proved the relationship between age and hearing loss, but did not demonstrate any association between blood groups, Rh antigen, serum cholesterol, triglyceride, glucose levels, and NIHL.
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articles by Maryam Saraei
Papers by Maryam Saraei