Department of Biomedical, Metabolic and Neural Sciences, University of Modena and Reggio Emilia, Modena (Italy).
School of Optometry & Vision Science, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, Ontario, Canada.
Med Lav. 2023 Aug 2;114(4):e2023032. doi: 10.23749/mdl.v114i4.14657.
Globally, hundreds of millions of outdoor workers are exposed to solar radiation (SR) for the majority of their working life. Such occupational exposure is known to induce various adverse health effects to the eyes, mainly related to its ultraviolet (UV) component. The present work is a call-to-action aimed at raising the awareness on the need of health surveillance for the prevention of the chronic ocular diseases in outdoor workers. Photo-chemical chronic damage can induce pterygium at the outer layer of the eye and cataract in the lens. Considering carcinogenic effects, rare squamous-cells tumors of the cornea and/or of the conjunctiva and the ocular melanomas are associated with UV radiation exposure. Solar UV-related eye diseases should be considered as "occupational diseases" when there is sufficient exposure in workers, but they are often not recognized, and/or frequently not reported to the national compensation authorities. Therefore, to prevent the burden of these work-related eye pathologies, an adequate risk assessment with identification of appropriate preventive measures, and a provision of periodic health surveillance to the exposed workers, in particular considering those at higher risk of exposure or with individual susceptibility, should be urgently implemented.
在全球范围内，数以亿计的户外工作者在大部分工作生涯中都暴露在太阳辐射（SR）下。这种职业暴露已知会对眼睛造成各种不良健康影响，主要与紫外线（UV）成分有关。目前这项工作旨在呼吁提高对户外工作者健康监测需求的认识，以预防慢性眼部疾病。光化学慢性损伤可在外层眼部引起翼状胬肉，在晶状体中引起白内障。考虑到致癌作用，角膜和/或结膜的罕见鳞状细胞肿瘤以及眼部黑色素瘤与紫外线辐射暴露有关。当工人暴露量足够大时，与太阳紫外线相关的眼部疾病应被视为“职业病”，但这些疾病往往未被识别，和/或未经常向国家赔偿当局报告。因此，为了预防这些与工作相关的眼部病理带来的负担，应紧急进行充分的风险评估，确定适当的预防措施，并为暴露于紫外线的工人提供定期健康监测，特别是要考虑那些暴露风险较高或个体易感性较高的工人。
