Diagnostic usefulness of Sweden´s Corporate Health Screening Form and Medical Examination in Medical Control of Vibration Exposed and Response´s Relation to Current and Future Measurement Standards

At the Occupational and Environmental Medicine Clinic (OEMC) in Umeå, approximately 45% of patients with occupational disease manifested in their hands due to vibration exposure.

In order to prevent severe vascular malfunction and sensory peripheral neuropathy in those who are exposed to vibration, it is important to detect injuries as early as possible.The project aims to determine how well the FHVmetodik and Swedish Occupational Health Service neurological screening form and medical examination at Medical Control in Working Life (Medicinsk Kontrol I Arbetslivet, MKA), predicts sensory dysfunction and assess which measurement standard, the current and the now proposed future standard, best predicts risk of damage to nerve functions in hands/fingers.The national occupational health services recommends that affiliated companies comply with MKA´s guidelines.

However, it is still unknown how well the screening form and medical examinations captures symptoms of neuropathy.

Previous studies with screening forms for symptoms of neuropathy have only been compared with physician´s assessment and not with clinical tests.

This project is the first to study how well the screening form predicts damage to nerve function in hands/ fingers with the results of laboratory tests and FHVmetodik proposed "bedside" examinations.200 subjects from OEMC in Umeå, occupational health service and companies with vibration stress will be invited to study the screening form and measurement standards.Vibration exposure survey is distributed at the same time as the screening form.

Previous studies have not focused on nerve damage and mainly included high-exposed forest and quarry workers.

The current study focuses on other occupational groups (construction, mining and workshops) and other machine types (cutting machines, impact and rotating machines) than previous studies.

Furthermore, field measurements on different machine types are made on site at the companies where the participants work.