[Occupational exposure and chronic heart failure severity]. / Esposizione professionale e gravità dello scompenso cardiaco cronico.

ABSTRACT

Chronic heart failure (CHF) is characterized by the inability of the heart to supply the body with sufficient amount of blood for metabolic and circulatory needs. The main risk factors for CHF development are hypertension, type 2 diabetes, obesity, smoking, chronic kidney diseases. Many occupational exposures, such as extremes of heat or cold temperatures, prolonged exposure to noise, vibrations, pesticides, can contribute to etiology of this disease. The aim of our study was to evaluate if work can affect CHF severity. We analyzed retrospectively the first 76 smokers aged over 65 years who presented to the outpatient Clinic of Chronic Heart Failure. The patients were divided in 4 groups based on their previous job white-collars, farmers, steelworkers and subjects performing different occupational activities (hairdressers, firemen, masons). Our results showed that farmers had a reduced left ventricular ejection fraction compared with white-collars (p = 0.0045) although NYHA class and the presence/absence of CHF risk factors were not different between the two groups. This data suggests that the farmer job could be associated with the severity of CHF.