Cardiovascular risk factors among oil refinery workers: ecological study

Abstract

Background: Monitoring the health of workers is indispensable to develop indicators to identify potential risk factors and the workload impact on illness and characterize their morbidity profile. Objective: To identify modifiable and non-modifiable cardiovascular risk factors among employees of an oil refinery with fixed work schedule or allocated to shifts. Methods: Ecological, exploratory, descriptive and quantitative study with data retrieved from the company’s record system. We performed time series analysis of the prevalence of risk factors in the period from 2008 through 2017. Results: We found an increasing trend in the prevalence of hypertension and diabetes and a decreasing trend for high cholesterol, high LDL, low HDL, smoking and coronary artery risk. The prevalence of hypertension increased, while that of all other risk factors, except for diabetes, decreased in 2017 by comparison to 2008. Conclusion: The analyzed sample is at medium risk for cardiovascular disease despite their young age, high educational level and available resources. We call attention to the need to systematize workplace health promotion programs.