Noise exposure as a factor in the increase of blood pressure of workers in a sack manufacturing industry

Abstract

Workers in manufacturing industries are exposed to noise generated by the manufacturing processes that results in auditory and non-auditory effects on them. This study assessed the relationship between exposure to noise and blood pressures. Sixty two randomly selected male workers in 6 sections of a sack manufacturing company participated in the study with a mean age of 31.6 (SD = 7.7) years. The noise emitted by the machines was obtained using a digital sound level meter. The blood pressures (systolic and diastolic) were obtained using a digital sphygmomanometer. The values of the systolic blood pressure when the workers were off work (SBPO) were consistently lower than systolic blood pressure during the morning duty (SBPM) and systolic blood pressure during the night duty (SBPN). However, no significant differences were observed between diastolic blood pressure of the workers during morning duty (DBPM) and during night duty (DBPN). Similarly, there were no significant differences between the values of DBPM and the diastolic blood pressure of the workers when they were off work (DBPO). The current study seems to suggest that workers should not be exposed to more than 89 dB as this had the least systolic and diastolic blood pressures. The study concluded that exposure to noise significantly increased systolic blood pressure but had no significant increase in the diastolic pressure of the workers.