Dear all,
This month I am going for a hat trick for summaries of responses to earlier
questions. What follows is an update to a question several months old
(Wed, 16 Mar 2005) i.e. information I have received since then. Ironically
those Kiwis had already beaten everyone else to it (do they ALWAYS have to
lead the world?!)
In 2003 Medical researchers in New Zealand reported the first case of
computer-related thrombosis; hence there is already some evidence that un-
ergonomic work practices (such as excessively prolonged sitting) might be
fatal (if the workers get deep vein embolisms)!
Professor Beasley and his colleagues diagnosed a pulmonary embolism in a 32-
year-old man with a sedentary lifestyle who been had been spending up to 18
hours a day seated at his computer. Not your average shift in laid-back
Aussie but definite proof that even office work can kill.
I wonder if the victim was also overweight and/or eating a junk food diet?
Regards,
David McFarlane
Ergonomist,
WorkCover Authority of New South Wales
Reference
R. Beasley, N. Raymond, S. Hill, M. Nowitz and R. Hughes,
(2003), “eThrombosis: the 21st Century variant of venous thromboembolism
associated with immobility”, Eur Respir J 2003; 21:374-376.Link;
http://72.14.203.104/search?q=cache:KdkjCRuZxV8J:www.nzma.org.nz/news/media-
releases/dvt.pdf+VTE+prolonged+sedentary+work&hl=en&lr=lang_en&ie=UTF-8
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