Performing research that illuminates crucial issues affecting the health and safety of workers is central to our mission at Rocky Mountain Center for Occupational and Environmental Health.
Our faculty and trainees publish roughly 80 peer-reviewed studies a year, spanning a wide breadth of research areas. Topics we study range from depression and suicidal ideation among law professionals to violence against emergency medical services responders to musculoskeletal disorders among railroad workers. Here are some of the recent papers we've published.
Recent Publications
COVID-19
- Protection with a third dose of mRNA vaccine against SARS-CoV-2 variants in frontline workers (New England Journal of Medicine)
- Prevention and attenuation of COVID-19 by BNT162b2 and mRNA-1273 vaccines (New England Journal of Medicine)
- Serum per- and polyfluoroalkyl substance concentrations and longitudinal change in post-infection and post-vaccination SARS-CoV-2 antibodies (Environmental Research)
- Impacts of the statewide COVID-19 lockdown interventions on excess mortality, unemployment, and employment growth (Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine)
- Association of mRNA vaccination with clinical and virologic features of COVID-19 among US essential and frontline workers (Journal of the American Medical Association)
- High burden of COVID-19 among unvaccinated law enforcement officers and firefighters (medRxiv)
- Effectiveness of 2-dose BNT162b2 (Pfizer BioNTech) mRNA vaccine in preventing SARS-CoC-2 Infection among children aged 5-11 years and adolescents aged 12-15 years— PROTECT cohort (Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report)
- Interim estimates of vaccine effectiveness of BNT 162b2 and mRNA-1273 COVID-19 vaccines in preventing SARS-CoV-s infection among health care personnel, first responders, and other essential and frontline workers — eight US locations (Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report)
- SARS-CoV-2 infection history and antibody response to three COVID-19 mRNA vaccine doses (Clinical Infectious Diseases)
Ergonomics and Safety
- A lightweight robotic leg prosthesis replicating the biomechanics of the knee, ankle, and toe joint (Science Robotics)
- Hospital bed height influences biomechanics during bed egress: A comparative controlled study of patients with Parkinson disease (Journal of Biomechanics)
- Trends in incidence and correlation between medical costs and lost workdays for work-related amputations in the State of California from 2007 to 2018 (Health Science Reports)
- Powered hip exoskeleton improves walking economy in individuals with above-knee amputation (Nature Medicine)
- Evaluating different measures of low back pain among U.S. manual material handling workers: comparison of demographic, psychosocial, and job physical exposure (Journal of Human Factors and Ergonomics Society)
Industrial Hygiene
- Influence of face shields on exposures to respirable aerosol (Journal of Occupational and Environmental Hygiene)
- Aerosol measurement degradation in low-cost particle sensors using laboratory calibration and field validation (Toxics)
- Environmental and occupational health on the Navajo Nation: a scoping review (Reviews on Environmental Health)
- Standards for surgical respirators and masks: Relevance for protecting healthcare workers and the public during pandemics (Annals of Work Exposures and Health)
- Pilot study predicting body core temperatures in hot work environments using thermal imagery (Journal of Chemical Health and Safety)
Occupational Injury Prevention
- The ubiquity of meeting lateness! A cross-cultural investigation of the small to moderate effects of workplace meeting lateness (Cross-Cultural Research)
- Occupational risk factors for work disability following carpal tunnel syndrome: a pooled prospective study (Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine)
- Investigating factors associated with colorectal cancer incidence among long-haul truck drivers in the United States (Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention Biomarkers)
- Size matters: How safety climate and downstream outcomes vary by fire department organization type (Injury Epidemiology)
- Burnout and engagement’s relationship to drug abuse in lawyers and law professionals (Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine)
- Incidence of workers' compensation claims in opioid-using truck drivers (Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine)
- Trends in incidence and correlation between medical costs and lost workdays for work-related amputations in the State of California from 2007 to 2018 (Health Science Reports)
- Depressive symptoms and suicidal ideation among lawyers and other law professionals (Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine)
- Psychosocial factors and tobacco use among commercial truck drivers (Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine)
- Organizational meeting orientation: setting the stage for team success or failure over time (Frontiers in Psychology)
Occupational Medicine
- Cardiovascular disease risk factors predict the development and numbers of common musculoskeletal disorders in a prospective cohort (Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine)
- Occupational risk factors for work disability following carpal tunnel syndrome: a pooled prospective study (Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine)
- Acceptable risk of sudden incapacitation among safety critical transportation workers: A comprehensive syntheses (Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine)
- Evaluating different measures of low back pain among U.S. manual material handling workers: comparison of demographic, psychosocial, and job physical exposure (Journal of Human Factors and Ergonomics Society)
- Relationship between opioid use and pain severity ratings in workers with low back pain (Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine)
- The coexistence of carpal tunnel syndrome in workers with trigger digit (HAND)
- Invasive treatments for low back disorders (Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine)
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