Risk of developing hypertension in underground workers when psycho-vegetative status is transforming

Abstract

The present research work is vital given the importance of studying risk factors that can cause mortality due to diseases of the circulatory system, especially among population of employable age. Our research aim was to establish what factors might induce developing hypertension based on examining psycho-vegetative status, biochemical and functional parameters of the cardiovascular system in underground workers depending on their age. We examined 109 men who were employed at a chromium mining enterprise and were exposed to occupational and psy-chosocial factors. The patients were divided into two groups; the test group was made up of 60 men who worked under ground under working conditions ranked as “hazardous” and belonging to hazard category 3.3–3.4; the reference group consisted of 49 men who dealt with surface works under working conditions belonging to hazard category 3.2. The test group was further divided into two sub-groups depending on workers’ age: people younger than 45 (n = 20, average age was 38.45 ± 2.95) and people older than (n = 40, average age was 50.90 ± 1.46). The reference group was also divided accordingly. The patients had their psycho-vegetative status examined profoundly with assessing neuropsychic stress, personal and situational anxiety, attention function, and subjective reflection of psycho-vegetative distress. The state of the cardiovascular system (CVS) was examined using results of functional and clinical-laboratory diagnostics. Decreased attention, greater personal anxiety and a greater number of psycho-vegetative complaints were detected authenti-cally more frequently among patients with hypertension (OR 7.50, 95 % CI 2.39–23.58; OR 11.06, 95 % CI 4.35–28.10; OR 22.50; 95 % CI 7.09–71.41). We detected differences in adaptation psycho-vegetative phenotypes between two sub-groups. A correlation between age and working experience and indicators of psycho-vegetative status was established for patients younger than 45 but there was no correlation with homeostasis indicators. There was a negative correlation between age and working experience and some indicators of psycho-vegetative status revealed for patients older than 45; there was a direct correlation between these parameters and certain homeostasis indicators given hypertension diagnosed in 95 % patients in this sub-group. As age and working experience grew, adaptation psycho-vegetative phenotype transformed and the process involved inversion of correlations with psycho-vegetative indicators together with aggravating functional disorders of the CVS. When transformation of this phenotype is diagnosed, it allows assessing risks of developing hypertension and makes for primary hypertension prevention through determining risk groups among workers.