In this special issue of Occupational Medicine.

Celebrating Occupational Medicine in Canada This special issue of Occupational Medicine is dedicated to occupational medicine in Canada. Occupational Medicine has been for many years the adopted journal of the Occupational and Environmental Medical Association of Canada (OEMAC) and close collaboration between the journal and Canadian occupational physicians is encouraged. The papers in this issue describe various aspects of occupational medicine research and practice in Canada. Several of the papers describe studies involving linkage of large databases to investigate workplace aetiology. In each Canadian province, residents are covered by a provincially administered heath care plan and there is a single workers' compensation board (WCB) that covers the majority of workers, which provide rich data sources for linkage. The study by Cherry et al. [1] demonstrates the utility of this type of data linkage to examine the relationship between occupation and new-onset physician-diagnosed mental ill-health. Information on occupation was obtained on all accepted WCB claims (irrespective of the type of injury or illness giving rise to the claim) during a 10-year period and was linked to administrative health records to obtain a diagnosis by a physician of new-onset mental ill-health (affective disorders, substance abuse, psychotic disorders), occurring within 12 months of the WCB claim. The results of their analysis suggest several areas for future study or intervention. For example substance use disorders were found to cluster mainly in physically demanding occupations often involving employment outside urban areas. In a related data linkage study, Cherry et al. [2] investigated whether a history of mental ill-health obtained from administrative health records was associated with an increased risk of injury at work. Cox proportional hazards regression analysis of the factors affecting the time between the first and any second WCB claims demonstrated a small but statistically significant risk of a second WCB claim in those with a history of mental ill-health in the 48 months prior to the first WCB claim. This finding reinforces the need to include assessment and management of mental health problems when assisting individuals to return to work. Smith et al. [3] carried out another data linkage study to investigate the relationship between the psychosocial work environment and the development of diabetes mellitus. They used data from Ontario respondents (35–60 years of age) to the 2000–01 Canadian Community Health Survey, which contains an abbreviated version of the Job Content Questionnaire of Karasek and Theorell, to measure psychosocial work variables. These …