Irina Guseva Canu

Instute for Work and Health, Lausanne, Switzerland · Education and research in health

We aimed to describe the characteristics and current practices of Swiss health professionals who manage patients with occupational burnout (POB), namely the general practitioners (GP), psychiatrist-psychotherapists (PP), occupational physicians (OP) and psychologists. Among 3216 respondents, 2951 reported to consult POB, and 1130 (713 physicians an...

Objectives: To prospectively investigate the association between Effort-Reward Imbalance (ERI) and over-commitment and the scores of the burnout dimensions over a 4 years follow-up period considering potential confounders. Methods: Data stemmed from CoLaus|PsyCoLaus, a population-based cohort study including 575 participants (mean age 55 years, 50%...

To assess whether organizational interventions are effective to prevent or reduce exhaustion, the core dimension of occupational burnout. We searched in PubMed, EMBASE, PsycINFO, and Cochrane Library databases randomized and non-randomized controlled trials conducted among active workers and reporting the outcome as exhaustion score. We calculated...

The growing demand for energy, the use of fossil fuels, the increase in traffic, as well as the increase in industrial production greatly contribute to air pollution in cities. It affects the environment and human health. The air in urban areas is a complex and variable mixture of various chemical compounds whose mechanism of action is not fully un...

Air pollution is a persistent serious public health issue worldwide and has been recognized as a leading environmental cause of cancer deaths, so there is an urgent and constant need for continuous prospective studies investigating the effects of air pollution on genome integrity and human health. Considering that the sample of urban air is a very...

Air pollution is acknowledged as one of the most serious public health issues in the world and a leading environmental cause of cancer deaths. Hence, there is an ongoing need for prospective studies investigating the impact of air pollution on genome integrity and human health. Given the fact that urban air is a complex and variable mixture of nume...

The current evidence on nanomaterial toxicity is mostly derived from experimental studies making it challenging to translate it into human health risks. We established an international cohort (N = 141 workers) within the EU-LIFE project "NanoExplore" to address possible health effects from occupational exposures to nanomaterials. We used a handheld...

Background: There is still a gap of knowledge in the detection and treatment of occupational burnout because it is not recognized as a disease and there are no standard criteria for its detection. We conducted a qualitative study to: (1) identify the different types of professionals who intervene in occupational burnout detection, treatment, preven...

affecting human organs, tissues, cells, and molecules. It is considered responsible for more than 3 million premature deaths annually. Currently ongoing HUMNap project investigates possible associations between air pollutants and biomarkers of exposure and early biological effects. The evaluation of results is divided in two parts. In part 1 we exa...

We aimed at analyzing dose-response relationship between occupational exposure to a mixture of nanomaterials (NMs) and effect biomarkers measured according to the NanoExplore protocol in exhaled breath condensate (EBC, local pulmonary level)) and urine (systemic level) of 141 workers. Two exposure metrics: particle number concentration (PNC) and lu...

The production of paints, coatings and construction materials may generate nanoparticles (NP) with potential adverse health effects. We carried out a study aimed at investigating exposure biomarkers reflecting the internal dose of inhaled particles and NP. NTA was used to quantify particle number concentration and size in EBC collected at the end o...

Exposure to metal oxides nanomaterials (NMs) might trigger adverse health effects. NMs can generate Oxidative Stress (OS), causing redox effects detectable in urine through suitable biomarkers. We evaluated the cross-sectional association of urinary OS biomarkers with urinary metal concentrations, using data collected in the multicenter internation...

Exposure to nanomaterials (NMs) may harm biological systems by altering the redox status and triggering inflammatory processes, which in turn may affect respiratory health. In the NanoExplore cohort of 141 workers, we observed a positive dose-response relationship between the short-term exposure to NMs and biomarkers of inflammation, measured in Ex...

‘Burnout’ is one of those medical terms that lack a consensual definition, although its definitions may appear very similar. This paper outlines and discusses research carried out to find the shared elements of the original reference definitions of ‘burnout’ used in scientific literature between the 1990s and today, as a preliminary step towards th...

Introduction: Occupation can contribute to differences in risk and stage at diagnosis of breast cancer. This study aimed at determining whether occupation, along with skill level and the socio-professional category, affect the breast cancer survival (BCS) up to 10 years after diagnosis. Materials and methods: We used cancer registry records to i...

Introduction Lung and breast cancer are important in the working-age population both in terms of incidence and costs. The study aims were to estimate the 10-year risk of lung and breast cancer by occupation and smoking status and to create easy to use age-, and sex-specific 10-year risk charts. Methods New lung and breast cancer cases between 2010...

Nanotechnology applications are fast-growing in many industrial fields. Consequently, health effects of engineered nanomaterials (ENMs) should be investigated. Within the EU-Life project NanoExplore, we developed a harmonized protocol of an international multicenter prospective cohort study of workers in ENM-producing companies. This article descri...

Increased road traffic and industrial and energy production contribute to urban air pollution worldwide. Consequently, cities are hotspots for air pollution, representing a global health threat, resulting in millions of premature deaths annually. The HUMNap project aims to provide scientifically based data on how air pollution can affect genomic in...

While previous Swiss studies have demonstrated differences in lung cancer mortality between occupational groups, no estimates are available on the association of occupation-related factors with lung cancer survival. This study aimed at determining whether occupation or work-related factors after diagnosis affect lung cancer survival. We used cancer...

In a pilot clinical study, OPEA allowed for distinguishing participants with and without chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. This study aimed to assess whether abnormal spirometry parameters and immunity against SARS-CoV-2 are associated with increased OPEA and estimating the OPEA reference interval. Swiss adult residents of the Vaud Canton aged...

Background: This meta-analysis summarized longitudinal findings pertaining to exhaustion's predictors. In so doing, our aim was ultimately to identify target factors for the prevention of burnout. Methods: We searched for studies that (a) examined predictors of exhaustion longitudinally and (b) reported correlation coefficients as an effect esti...

Aims of the study: To estimate the prevalence of occupational burnout among the Swiss working population. Methods: We interrogated three international databases (Medline (PubMed), EMBASE, and PsycINFO) and the databases of 15 Swiss universities to identify studies reporting the prevalence of occupational burnout in Swiss workers over the last 10...

Air pollution is recognized as one of the most serious public health issues worldwide and was declared to be a leading environmental cause of cancer deaths. At the same time, the cytokinesis-block micronucleus (CBMN) assay serves as a cancer predictive method that is extensively used in human biomonitoring for populations exposed to environmental c...

Inflammation is a comprehensive set of physiological processes that an organism undertakes in response to a wide variety of foreign stimuli, such as viruses, bacteria, and inorganic particles. A key role is played by cytokines, protein-based chemical mediators produced by a broad range of cells, including the immune cells recruited in the inflammat...

Socioeconomic differences in breast cancer (BC) incidence are driven by differences in lifestyle, healthcare use and occupational exposure. Women of high socioeconomic status (SES) have a higher risk of BC, which is diagnosed at an earlier stage, than in low SES women. As the respective effects of occupation and SES remain unclear, we examined the...

The regularly reported associations between particulate matter (PM) exposure, and morbidity and mortality due to respiratory, cardiovascular, cancer, and metabolic diseases have led to the reduction in recommended outdoor PM10 and PM2.5 exposure limits. However, indoor PM10 and PM2.5 concentrations in subway systems in many cities are often higher...

Many pathological conditions and certain airway exposures are associated with oxidative stress (OS). Malondialdehyde (MDA) is an end-product of the oxidation of lipids in our cells and is present in all biological matrices including exhaled breath condensate (EBC). To use MDA as a biomarker of OS in EBC, a reference interval should be defined. Thus...

We developed a Bayesian spline model for real-time mass concentrations of particulate matter (PM10, PM2.5, PM1, and PM0.3) measured simultaneously in the personal breathing zone of Parisian subway workers. The measurements were performed by GRIMM, a gravimetric method, and DiSCmini during the workers’ work shifts over two consecutive weeks. The mea...

We aimed to review the determinants of burnout onset in teachers. The study was conducted according to the PROSPERO protocol CRD42018105901, with a focus on teachers. We performed a literature search from 1990 to 2021 in three databases: MEDLINE, PsycINFO, and Embase. We included longitudinal studies assessing burnout as a dependent variable, with...

Objectives Animal bioassays have demonstrated convincing evidence of the potential carcinogenicity to humans of titanium dioxide (TiO 2 ), but limitations in cohort studies have been identified, among which is the healthy worker survivor effect (HWSE). We aimed to address this bias in a pooled study of four cohorts of TiO 2 workers. Methods We rea...

Exhaled breath condensate (EBC) has attracted substantial interest in the last few years, enabling the assessment of airway inflammation with a non-invasive method. Concentrations of 8-Hydroxydesoxyguanosine (8-OHdG) and 8-isoprostane in EBC have been suggested as candidate biomarkers for lung diseases associated with inflammation and oxidative str...

Vodeće svjetske organizacije poput Europske agencije za okoliš, Svjetske zdravstvene organizacije, Međunarodne agencije za istraživanje raka i Globalnog opterećenja bolestima istakle su onečišćenje zraka kao vodeću globalnu zdravstvenu prijetnju odgovornu za 3 – 7 milijuna smrtnih slučajeva godišnje. Zrak u urbanim sredinama kompleksna je i promjen...

Oxidative stress has been associated with various inflammation-related human diseases. It is defined as an imbalance between the production and elimination of reactive oxygen species (ROS). ROS can oxidize proteins, lipids, and DNA, and some of these oxidized products are excreted in urine, such as malondialdehyde (MDA), which is considered a bioma...

Background Underground transportation systems can contribute to the daily particulates and metal exposures for both commuter and subway workers. The redox and metabolic changes in workers exposed to such metal-rich particles have yet to be characterized. We hypothesize that the distribution of nitrosative/oxidative stress and related metabolic biom...

The contribution of occupation-related diseases to the global burden of disease is greatly underestimated, mainly due to a shortage of occupational exposure data. This problem is particularly salient in Switzerland, where no estimates of occupation-related disease burden exist, even for the well-recognised occupational cancers, such as malignant pl...

Résumé Contexte Parmi les composants particulaires constituant l’air des enceintes ferroviaires souterraines (EFS), les particules ultrafines (PUF, diamètre < 100 nm) restent à ce jour les plus faiblement documentées. L’objectif était d’examiner l’exposition aux PUF pour les trois principaux métiers présents dans les EFS (agents de station, conduc...

Introduction. The high energy and temperature used for melting metals during additive manufacturing generate high numbers of fine (FP) and nanoparticles (NP), with significant time-dependent variations. To evaluate possible health risk, we investigated the time course of airborne FP and NP released during different phases of two selective laser mel...

Background International consensus is needed on case definitions of work-related musculoskeletal disorders and diseases (MSDs) for use in epidemiological research. We aim to: 1) study what information is needed for the case definition of work-related low back pain (LBP), lumbosacral radicular syndrome (LRS), subacromial pain syndrome (SAPS), carpal...

Background: We aimed to assess the validity (criterion and cross-cultural validity) and reliability of the first occupational burnout (OB) detection tool designed for healthcare professionals in Belgium in the context of Swiss medical practice. Methods: First, we assessed the sensitivity and specificity of the Tool. We developed this tool based...

Background Air pollution in subway environments is a growing concern as it often exceeds WHO recommendations for indoor air quality. Ultrafine particles (UFP), for which there is still no regulation nor a standardized exposure monitoring method, are the strongest contributor to this pollution when the number concentration is used as exposure metric...

There are several methods for quantifying malondialdehyde (MDA), an oxidative stress biomarker, in exhaled breath condensate (EBC). However, due to the very diluted nature of this biological matrix, a high variability is observed at low concentrations. We aimed to optimize a 2,4-dinitrophenylhydrazine-based method using liquid chromatography couple...

Air pollution is becoming recognised as one of the most serious public health issues worldwide. Rising industrial and energy productions, the burning of fossil fuels and biomass, as well as the rise in road traffic frequency contribute to air pollution in our cities. Urban air is a complex and variable mixture of many different chemicals whose exac...

Introduction Despite more than half a century of research on occupational burnout (OB), little is known about its prevalence, etiology, treatment, or prevention. The lack of consensus on its definition and measurement has led to the use of various arbitrary definitions and measures of OB. Objectives Within the Network on the Coordination and Harmo...

Introduction Lung cancer is the most frequent cancer, with smoking and radon as the two leading causes. Occupational exposures are another important risk factor, with an estimated population attributable fraction up to 15%. Objectives This study aimed at assessing the effect of occupational exposures on lung cancer mortality in Switzerland after a...

Major world authorities such as European Environmental Agency, World Health Organization, International Agency for Research on Cancer, and The Global Burden of Diseases highlighted air pollution as leading global health threat responsible for 3 – 7 million deaths annually. Urban air is a variable and complex mixture of many different chemicals with...

Background Selection of the most suitable instrument for a health outcome or exposure assessment is challenging, as there are many different instruments and their versions, most with unknown validity. Aims To develop guidelines facilitating the search for the most suitable instrument. Materials and Methods Based on our experience, we formalized a...

We aimed to review occupational burnout predictors, considering their type, effect size and role (protective versus harmful), and the overall evidence of their importance. MEDLINE, PsycINFO, and Embase were searched from January 1990 to August 2018 for longitudinal studies examining any predictor of occupational burnout among workers. We arranged p...

Subway particulate toxicity results from in vitro and in vivo studies diverge and call for applied human research on outcomes from chronic exposures and potential exposure biomarkers. We aimed to (1) quantify airborne particulate matter (PM) concentrations (mass and number) and metal concentrations in exhaled breath condensate (EBC), urine, and PM;...

Occupational disease lists (ODLs) are essential legal mechanisms for recognising pathologies related to exposure to occupational hazards. In 2017, Switzerland revised its ODL and solicited stakeholders to review the ODL proposal. This revision represented an important and rare event, and was an opportunity to assess the legal status and role of Swi...

Objective The aim of this study was to describe the factors associated with mortality by suicide among working women focusing on work-related factors. Methods The study population consisted in all Swiss residents recorded in the 1990 and/or the 2000 compulsory national censuses and were linked to emigration and mortality registers. We selected all...

Objective: To assess the effect of occupational exposures on lung cancer mortality in Switzerland after adjustment for non-occupational lung carcinogens. Methods: Using data on 4'351'383 Swiss residents, we used negative binomial regression to assess the effect occupation on lung cancer mortality between 1990 and 2014, accounting for socio-demog...

The ROBoCoP project is launched within the EU COST Action CA16113 “CliniMARK” aiming to increase the number of clinically validated biomarkers and focused on chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) biomarker development and validation. ROBoCoP encompasses two consecutive studies consisting of a pilot study followed by a field study. The pilot...

Procode is a free of charge web-tool that allows automatic coding of occupational data (free-texts) by implementing Complement Naïve Bayes (CNB) as a machine-learning technique. The paper describes the algorithm, performance evaluation, and future goals regarding the tool’s development. Almost 30 000 free-texts with manually assigned classification...

Backgrounds At birth, only complete Fetal Alcohol Syndrome (FAS) can be properly diagnosed. However, other Consequences of prenatal Alcohol Exposure (CAE) can also be recorded. Our objective was to describe the frequency of diagnoses highly suggestive of “potential Fetal Alcohol Syndrome Disorder” (pFASD, i.e., FAS and CAE) among hospitalized neona...

Production and handling of engineered nanomaterials (ENMs) can yield worker exposure to these materials with the potential for unforeseen negative health effects. Biomonitoring enables regular exposure and health assessment and an effective risk management. We aimed to identify factors influencing biomonitoring acceptance according to hierarchical...

Carbon nanotubes (CNTs) and carbon nanofibers (CNFs) are erroneously considered as singular material entities. Instead, they should be regarded as a heterogeneous class of materials bearing different properties eliciting peculiar biological outcomes both in vitro and in vivo. Given the pace at which the industrial production of CNTs/CNFs is increas...

Objective A consensual definition of occupational burnout is currently lacking. We aimed to harmonize the definition of occupational burnout as a health outcome in medical research and reach a consensus on this definition within the Network on the Coordination and Harmonisation of European Occupational Cohorts (OMEGA-NET). Methods First, we perform...

Introduction We modeled suicidal rate among Swiss working‐age males, considering three groups of factors at socio‐demographic, occupational, and societal levels jointly. Our goal was twofold: to verify the effect of occupation after adjustment for non‐occupational factors and to identify protective and risk factors relevant for suicide prevention i...

Lacking diagnostic standards, the prevalence of Occupational Burnout (OB) remains uncertain. Unisanté aimed to evaluate its magnitude in its patients and to evaluate the medical practices related to OB in two of its departments, the Department of the Policlinics (DDP) and the Department of Occupational and Environmental Health (DSTE). An online sur...

Aims: Occupational Burnout (OB) is currently measured through several Patient-Reported Outcome Measures (PROMs) and some of them have become widely used in occupational health research and practice. We, therefore, aimed to review and grade the psychometric validity of the five OB PROMs considered as valid for OB measure in mental health professiona...

We formulated a harmonized definition of occupational burnout concept and experts from 29 countries consensually approved it. Official medical vocabulary should integrate this concept and its definition. This will reduce the semantic confusion associated with this concept, improve the quality of evidence on this outcome, and stimulate the research...