Prevalence of Non-Occupational Disorders in Men with Occupational Vibration Disease

Introduction: Industrial vibration has a complex effect on the body, increasing the risk of circulatory and respiratory diseases, disorders of the liver and endocrine system, which are not recognized by medical boards as occupational.

The objective of our study was to analyze the prevalence of non-occupational diseases in workers suffering from occupational vibration disease and employed in industries and institutions served by health facilities of the Russian Federal Medical-Biological Agency (FMBA).

Materials and methods: As a reliable source of information, we used the Industry Register of Persons with Occupational Diseases containing data on 95 cases of occupational vibration disease aged 65.1 ± 1.5 (90 men aged 64.8 ± 1.5 years and 5 women aged 70.6 ± 2.6 years). The prevalence rates are given per 1,000 cases of occupational vibration disease with an error of the intensive indicator and the proportion of the pathology in the structure of non-occupational diseases.

Results: The prevalence of non-occupational diseases in men was 755.6 ± 91.6. Of these, musculoskeletal disorders (288.9±47.8; 39.4 %) ranked first, followed by diseases of the cardiovascular (177.8 ± 40.3; 24.2 %), respiratory (111.1 ± 33.1; 15.2 %), and digestive (66.7 ± 26.3; 9.1 %) systems. Discussion: We established that diseases of the musculoskeletal system and other disorders potentially related to occupational vibration dominated in the structure of non-occupational diseases in the study cohort.

Conclusion: Cases of occupational vibration disease often suffer from musculoskeletal disorders, diseases of the circulatory, respiratory and digestive systems, accounting for 87.9 % of all non-occupational illnesses in this research. We recommend a more precise determination of occupational or non-occupational genesis of musculoskeletal disorders in people exposed to vibration at work in occupational health centers.

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