Gender features of occupational pathology in the Russian Arctic

Abstract

Introduction. An interest in studying the gender characteristics of occupational pathology is determined by increasing economic activity in the Arctic and the upcoming expansion of women’s access to occupations with harmful working conditions.The purpose of the study was to carry out a comparative investigation of working conditions and occupational pathology among male and female workers at enterprises in the Arctic.Material and methods. The data of socio-hygienic monitoring “Working conditions and occupational morbidity” of the population of the Russian Arctic in 2007-2018 were studied.Results and discussion. 92.6% of occupational diseases have been established to occur in men due to more harmful working conditions (fibrogenic aerosols, noise, whole-body, and hand-arm vibration, the severity of labor). The risk of their occurrence in 2018 was higher than in 2007 (RR = 1.71; CI 1.51-1.93) and higher than in women (RR = 9.45; CI 7.19-12.4). Unlike men, 48.8% of women worked at facilities of the first group of sanitary and epidemiological welfare (satisfactory conditions) and they had in 2007-2018 a relatively stable number of newly diagnosed occupational diseases. The risk of occupational pathology in women in 2018 and 2007 did not change significantly (RR = 1.07; CI 0.73-1.59). In the structure of occupational diseases in men, the first places are occupied by vibration disease (24.2%), sensorineural hearing loss (20.3%) and radiculopathy (20.1%), and in women - myofibrosis of the forearms (21.2%), radiculopathy(13.7%) and chronic bronchitis (13.4%).Conclusion. Reducing exposure to physical overloads, fibrogenic aerosols, noise, vibration, and chemical factors should be a priority preventive direction at enterprises in the Arctic, especially among male workers whose occupational morbidity rate tends to increase.