Epidemiological study on the occupational noise exposure and hypertension in mechanic factory workers / 中华流行病学杂志

ABSTRACT

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To study the relations of noise expose and hypertension in mechanic factory workers.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>A cross-sectional study on 1205 workers (exposed to different noise levels) in Hunan was carried out, using questionnaire, blood pressure of the workers and the exposure level to noise at workplace.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>The prevalence of hypertension was 12.1% in mechanic factory workers. There was an increasing tendency of hypertension rate along with the increase of accumulative noise doses (tendency chi-squared = 29.932, P < 0.01). Result by logistic regression analysis after adjusting age, history of hypertension in parents and body weight index showed that the risk of hypertension increased about 5% by 1 dB(A) of more noise exposure (OR = 1.047).</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>Noise exposure might serve as a risk factor of hypertension. Reducing the sound pressure level in workshops could work as an effective measure to control the incidence rate of hypertension in mechanic factory workers.</p>