Assessment of Adaptive Risk for Workers Exposed to Occupational Hazards in the Metallurgical Industry

Abstract

Introduction: Metallurgical workers are heavily exposed to a combination of occupational stress factors. Objective: To assess the adaptive risk for metallurgists depending on duration of work under hazardous working conditions, to identify markers of impaired neurohumoral regulation of the heart rate indicating an increased risk of cardiovascular diseases in workers with little work experience. Materials and methods: The study included 222 male metallurgists with the mean age of 38.8 ± 0.39 years and the mean duration of work of 12.9 ± 0.43 years. Parameters of the functional state were assessed by general clinical and biochemical methods. The adaptive risk was estimated using heart rate variability indices according to the method by R.M. Baevsky. We then analyzed the relationship between the adaptive risk and the functional state parameters, including blood levels of copper, zinc, selenium, and formaldehyde. Results: When assessing heart rate variability parameters depending on the length of service, a significant reduction in the total power of the spectrum (r = –0.28, p = 0.000037) and the share of parasympathetic regulation (pNN50: r = –0.295, p = 0.000012) against an increase in the share humoral-metabolic influences (VLF %: r = 0.16, p = 0.02) were established. The registered adap- tive risk correlated with an increase in blood pressure (r = 0.3, p = 0.0000; r = 0.25, p = 0.0003), glucose (r = 0.23, p = 0.001), total cholesterol (r = 0.21, p = 0.002), and serum copper (r = 0.22, p = 0.001). One of the signs of unsatisfactory adaptation in workers with little experience was an increase in the adaptive risk by more than 2 CU and in the electrical instability of the heart. Conclusion: The adaptive risk in metallurgists correlates with the length of service and is associated with adverse health chang- es in workers. Among the metallurgists with less than 10 years of experience, signs of poor adaptation to industrial stress are registered, which is the basis for forming groups at risk of health disorders among such workers.