Health Impact of Work Experience Duration in Kola Peninsula Underground Miners

Background: The characteristics of health problems in miners with different work experience remain largely unknown.

Objective: To study the influence of work experience duration on the development of health disorders in underground miners of the Kola Peninsula.

Materials and Methods: The nature of non-occupational diseases (11,003 cases) was studied in nine groups of miners, and the characteristics of occupational diseases (1,597 cases) were studied in six groups of miners with the different number of working years. The statistical analysis performed in Microsoft Excel 2016 included determination of the relative risk (RR), 95 % confidence intervals (CI), R² approximation criteria, goodness-of-fit, Pearson’s correlation, and Student’s t-test. Results: An increase in the proportion of musculoskeletal diseases (p = 0.011) and the number of diseases per employee (p = 0.005) were revealed in the group of workers having a year of work experience. In the group of those having 4 to 5 years of experience, the proportion of healthy individuals decreased (p = 0.003), while the proportion of diseases of the gastrointestinal system increased (p = 0.017). The work experience duration of 11 to 15 years was associated with the increased proportion of circulatory diseases (p = 0.035) and that of 30+ years showed a relationship with a higher rate of diseases of the ear (p < 0.001). The risk of developing a disease exceeded the reference level (≤ 1 year of employment) after 4–5 years of work experience: OR = 1.15; CI: 1.05–1.26. The increasing duration of work correlated with higher rates of musculoskeletal (R² = 0.973), respiratory (R² = 0.938), nervous (R² = 0.862), ear (R² = 0.743), circulatory (R² = 0.887), endocrine (R² = 0.790), digestive (R² = 0.598), genitourinary (R² = 0.728), and eye (R² = 0.850) diseases. Miners’ work experience at diagnosis of occupational diseases ranged from 5 to 42 years. Musculoskeletal diseases ranked first across all six length-of-service groups (55.8–60.8 %), followed by the vibration syndrome (14.1–26.9 %) and sensorineural hearing loss (11.0–21.9 %). The increase in years of work experience was accompanied by rising occupational disease rates (R² = 0.963). The most pronounced health disorders were observed within 11–15 years of service.

Conclusion: When implementing health-building measures, it is necessary to consider work experience-related characteristics of miners’ health conditions, particularly the early risk of musculoskeletal diseases.

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