[Occupational exposure to a mixture of organic solvents and prevalence of hypertension in workers of a car manufacturing company]

ABSTRACT

Hypertension [HTN] is a common disease with various complications for health. A number of studies suggested that some organic solvents can affect blood pressure and usually workers in work environments expose to mixtures of solvents. We decided to survey the effects of a mixture of organic solvents on blood pressure in workers of a car manufacturing company. In a cross-sectional study, systolic and diastolic blood pressure [SBP and DBP] of 179 workers of a car manufacturing plant was measured. Workers in the repair location as non-exposure group and workers in the paint location as exposure group were compared in terms of systolic and diastolic blood pressure [SBP and DBP] and prevalence of hypertension and pre-hypertension. There were no statistically significant differences between groups in the variables, age, employment duration, smoking and other confounding factors [p>0.05]. The mean values of SBP and DBP was significantly higher in exposure group than non-exposure group [p<0.001]. After logistic regression analysis with adjustment of confounding variables, prevalence of pre-hypertension and hypertension was significantly higher in exposure group than non-exposure group [p<0.05]. Further, in this study there was a significant association between hypertension and variables such as age, smoking, body mass index, regular exercise and shift work [p<0.05]. Our results suggested that, exposure to mixture of organic solvents can increase prevalence of hypertension in car manufacture workers. Therefore, more attention should be paid to such workers by prevention and periodic monitoring of blood pressure.