David Rempel

Publications (137) View all

• Article: Booster Breaks in the workplace: participants' perspectives on health-promoting work breaks.

  Wendell C Taylor, Kathryn E King, Ross Shegog, Raheem J Paxton, Gina L Evans-Hudnall, David M Rempel, Vincent Chen, Antronette K Yancey
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  ABSTRACT: Increasing sedentary work has been associated with greater cardiovascular and metabolic risk, as well as premature mortality. Interrupting the sedentary workday with health-promoting work breaks can counter these negative health effects. To examine the potential sustainability of work-break programs, we assessed the acceptance of these breaks among participants in a Booster Break program. We analyzed qualitative responses from 35 participants across five worksites where one 15-min physical activity break was taken each workday. Two worksites completed a 1-year intervention and three worksites completed a 6-month intervention. Responses to two open-ended questions about the acceptance and feasibility of Booster Breaks were obtained from a survey administered after the intervention. Three themes for benefits and two themes for barriers were identified. The benefit themes were (i) reduced stress and promoted enjoyment, (ii) increased health awareness and facilitated behavior change, and (iii) enhanced workplace social interaction. The barrier themes were the need for (iv) greater variety in Booster Break routines and (v) greater management support. This study provides empirical support for the acceptance and feasibility of Booster Breaks during the workday. Emphasizing the benefits and minimizing the barriers are strategies that can be used to implement Booster Breaks in other workplaces.
  Health Education Research 03/2013; · 1.66 Impact Factor
• Article: Personal and workplace psychosocial risk factors for carpal tunnel syndrome: a pooled study cohort.

  Carisa Harris-Adamson, Ellen A Eisen, Ann Marie Dale, Bradley Evanoff, Kurt T Hegmann, Matthew S Thiese, Jay M Kapellusch, Arun Garg, Susan Burt, Stephen Bao, Barbara Silverstein, Fred Gerr, Linda Merlino, David Rempel
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  ABSTRACT: BACKGROUND: Between 2001 and 2010, six research groups conducted coordinated multiyear, prospective studies of carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS) incidence in US workers from various industries and collected detailed subject-level exposure information with follow-up symptom, physical examination, electrophysiological measures and job changes. OBJECTIVE: This analysis of the pooled cohort examined the incidence of dominant-hand CTS in relation to demographic characteristics and estimated associations with occupational psychosocial factors and years worked, adjusting for confounding by personal risk factors. METHODS: 3515 participants, without baseline CTS, were followed-up to 7 years. Case criteria included symptoms and an electrodiagnostic study consistent with CTS. Adjusted HRs were estimated in Cox proportional hazard models. Workplace biomechanical factors were collected but not evaluated in this analysis. RESULTS: Women were at elevated risk for CTS (HR=1.30; 95% CI 0.98 to 1.72), and the incidence of CTS increased linearly with both age and body mass index (BMI) over most of the observed range. High job strain increased risk (HR=1.86; 95% CI 1.11 to 3.14), and social support was protective (HR=0.54; 95% CI 0.31 to 0.95). There was an inverse relationship with years worked among recent hires with the highest incidence in the first 3.5 years of work (HR=3.08; 95% CI 1.55 to 6.12). CONCLUSIONS: Personal factors associated with an increased risk of developing CTS were BMI, age and being a woman. Workplace risk factors were high job strain, while social support was protective. The inverse relationship between CTS incidence and years worked among recent hires suggests the presence of a healthy worker survivor effect in the cohort.
  Occupational and environmental medicine 05/2013; · 3.64 Impact Factor
• Article: Prevalence and incidence of carpal tunnel syndrome in US working populations: pooled analysis of six prospective studies.

  Ann Marie Dale, Carisa Harris-Adamson, David Rempel, Fred Gerr, Kurt Hegmann, Barbara Silverstein, Susan Burt, Arun Garg, Jay Kapellusch, Linda Merlino, Matthew S Thiese, Ellen A Eisen, Bradley Evanoff
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  ABSTRACT: OBJECTIVES: Most studies of carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS) incidence and prevalence among workers have been limited by small sample sizes or restricted to a small subset of jobs. We established a common CTS case definition and then pooled CTS prevalence and incidence data across six prospective studies of musculoskeletal outcomes to measure CTS frequency and allow better studies of etiology. METHODS: Six research groups collected prospective data at >50 workplaces including symptoms characteristic of CTS and electrodiagnostic studies (EDS) of the median and ulnar nerves across the dominant wrist. While study designs and the timing of data collection varied across groups, we were able to create a common CTS case definition incorporating both symptoms and EDS results from data that were collected in all studies. RESULTS: At the time of enrollment, 7.8% of 4321 subjects met our case definition and were considered prevalent cases of CTS. During 8833 person-years of follow-up, an additional 204 subjects met the CTS case definition for an overall incidence rate of 2.3 CTS cases per 100 person-years. CONCLUSIONS: Both prevalent and incident CTS were common in data pooled across multiple studies and sites. The large number of incident cases in this prospective study provides adequate power for future exposure-response analyses to identify work and non-work related risk factors for CTS. The prospective nature allows determination of the temporal relations necessary for causal inference.
  Scandinavian journal of work, environment & health 02/2013; · 3.12 Impact Factor
• Article: Correlation between different hand force assessment methods from an epidemiological study

  Denis A. Coelho, Carisa Harris-Adamson, Tânia M. Lima, Ira Janowitz, David M. Rempel
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  ABSTRACT: This article presents the outcome of correlation analyses of data results obtained from using different methods for objectively and subjectively assessing hand force from a prospective study of 450 blue-collar workers from several companies and industries, followed for up to 3 years. The study collected detailed ergonomic exposure data at baseline and upper extremity health outcome data at baseline and every 4 months during the study. Ultimately, the study was intended to evaluate dose-response relationships of specific upper extremity disorders with detailed physical and psychosocial exposure data at the workplace while controlling for important individual factors. This article presents the methods used to collect data, as well as the hand force results of the epidemiological study in aggregate correlated form, as a means of exploring the degree of independence between the variables considered. These insights are useful in identifying musculoskeletal disorder (MSD) causation and predicting MSD risk ba
  Human Factors and Ergonomics in Manufacturing 01/2013; · 0.61 Impact Factor
• Article: Case Study

  Michael R. Cooper, Pam Susi, David Rempel
  Journal of Occupational and Environmental Hygiene 02/2012; 9(2):D35-D41. · 1.19 Impact Factor