[Occupation and hypertension]

Aspectos de vida, trabalho e saúde de trabalhadores do setor de rochas ornamentais

O processo saúde-doença é determinado socialmente, sendo o trabalho um fator que influencia fortemente o perfil de morbimortalidade. O objetivo deste artigo é estudar a relação entre as condições de trabalho e saúde referidas por trabalhadores da indústria de rochas ornamentais, moradores de um distrito de Cachoeiro de Itapemirim (ES). Estudo epidemiológico, transversal, com coleta de dados realizada através de questionário aplicado a 187 trabalhadores em seus domicílios. A análise utilizou métodos estatísticos descritivos e analíticos. Grande percentual de trabalhadores referiu morbidade aguda (45,5%) e crônica (44,9%), percebida por eles como relacionada ao trabalho (56,5% e 51,2%, respectivamente). Apesar da maior percepção dos riscos de insalubridade ambiental por parte dos trabalhadores, os que referiram morbidade relacionaram principalmente os aspectos ergonômicos do trabalho ao principal grupo de transtornos apresentados, os osteomusculares. O elevado percentual de morbidade é resultado da inserção desses indivíduos em um processo de trabalho onde as condições e a organização do trabalho geram desgaste físico e mental, sendo determinada pela divisão social do trabalho no setor.

Can the socioeconomic level influence the characteristics of a group of hypertensive patients?

A total of 440 hypertensive patients participated in the study (57 years old +/-12, 66% women, 51% white, 57% married, 52% with primary school and 44% with income from 1 to 3 minimum salaries) to characterize biosocial, beliefs, attitudes and knowledge variables, absence to consultation and treatment interruption, and to associate the socioeconomic level to the variables studied. An index of accumulated goods, from the possession of household appliances converted in minimum salaries/mo., was elaborated in order to evaluate the economic status. The hypertensive people who disagreed with "there is nothing you can do to prevent high blood pressure" presented significantly higher levels of accumulated goods; those who affirmed never getting late to their consultations presented lower levels of accumulated goods; in the subjective well-being evaluation, sadness was associated to a lower accumulated goods index (p<0,05). Results showed that low economic status was associated with factors that can influence the attitude and adherence to anti-hypertensive treatment.

Association between diastolic blood pressure and cumulative work time

Diastolic blood pressure was viewed as a generic indicator of aging, and its association with cumulative work time was studied after controlling for age as a potential confounding factor. The study was conducted among production line workers at a Brazilian tannery in July 1993. The association between diastolic blood pressure and cumulative work time was verified by fitting a second-order linear regression model, where diastolic blood pressure was a function of worker's age and cumulative work time. By fitting the model, one can predict that, from the beginning of working life at the tannery, on average each 1-year period is associated with an increase of about 1. 5 mmHg in diastolic blood pressure. The fit obtained highlights a component directly associated with work as part of the rate of pressure increase in the study group. This component is twice as high as that directly associated with age.

[Blood pressure among tannery workers]

INTRODUCTION

Cardiovascular diseases have been shown to be the leading cause of death in Brazil since the 1970s. High blood pressure has been the major risk factor among the above mentioned diseases. A negative correlation between occupational qualification and blood pressure has been observed among workers. The above mentioned facts bring out the importance of the knowledge of high blood pressure distribution among the different occupational groups. The aim of the present study was to describe the distribution of blood pressure in stable and homogeneous population of unskilled, low wage earning industrial workers. The Prevalence of high blood pressure was established for this specific group. This prevalence was also related to some biological and socio-economical covariates as compared with that among other occupational groups in Brazil.

METHOD

The subjects were 73 active employees at a tannery in Botucatu, state of S. Paulo, Brazil, in July 1993. These subjects underwent blood pressure measurements, anamnesis and clinical examination. The results were compared with those of similar studies carried out in elsewhere Brazil. Age confounding was controlled by different techniques.

RESULT

The crude prevalence of high blood pressure detected in this group of workers was of 56.1%, with 15.8% of isolated systolic hypertension. Alcohol abuse and smoking were associated with high blood pressure and isolated systolic hypertension in the population studied.

DISCUSSION

Prevalence of hypertension in the group studied is significantly higher than that observed in other groups of workers studied in Brazil. Such a finding points to the need for further investigation so as to isolate those factors involved in the increased blood pressure found in this group.

Using the current Brazilian value for the biological exposure limit applied to blood lead level as a lead poisoning diagnostic criterion

In general, biological exposure limits are only used for the promotion and preservation of workers' health and are not applied for diagnostic purposes. However, the issue is controversial for certain types of occupational poisoning. This paper proposes the utilization of biological exposure limits currently applied to blood lead levels in Brazil as an important criterion for diagnosing occupational lead poisoning. The author argues that contrary to the traditional clinical criterion, one should deal with the diagnostic problem of lead poisoning from an epidemiological perspective, using the current Brazilian value for the biological exposure limit applied to blood lead level as an indicator of high relative risk.

Associação da perda auditiva induzida pelo ruído com o tempo acumulado de trabalho entre motoristas e cobradores

Através da técnica da regressão linear múltipla, estudou-se a relação existente entre a perda auditiva induzida pelo ruído e as variáveis "tempo total acumulado de trabalho como condutor de veículos coletivos urbanos", "pressão arterial diastólica" e "idade", em uma população de 278 motoristas e cobradores usuários de um serviço de saúde ocupacional da cidade de Campinas, estado de São Paulo (Brasil). Os principais resultados encontrados foram uma associação positiva entre a perda auditiva e o tempo acumulado de trabalho, bem como a existência de uma interação entre esta variável e a idade dos condutores.