Influencing factors of sleep disorders of employees of a steel enterprise / 环境与职业医学

Background Steel workers are exposed to occupational hazardous factors such as dust, noise, and heat, and often work in shifts, making them prone to sleep disorders. Objective To explore potential influencing factors of sleep disorders among workers in a steel enterprise in Gansu Province, and provide a basis for reducing the risk of sleep disorders among them. Methods From January to March 2022, a self-made questionnaire combined with the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI) were used to investigate the employees of a steel enterprise in Gansu Province. According to their PSQI scores, they were divided into a normal sleep group and a sleep disorder group. The general demographic variables of the two groups were balanced by 1∶1 propensity score matching (PSM). Multiple logistic regression was used to analyze the contributing factors of sleep disorders. Restricted cubic spline (RCS) model was used to analyze potential dose-response relationship between weekly working hours and sleep disorders. Results The prevalence of sleep disorders in the steel workers was 48.06% (6029/12544). After PSM, 5847 pairs were successfully matched, and the distributions of matched variables were well balanced between the two groups. The results of multiple logistic regression showed that hypertension (OR=1.39, 95%CI: 1.24, 1.56), diabetes mellitus (OR=1.34, 95%CI: 1.07, 1.66), three-shift system (OR=1.26, 95%CI: 1.12, 1.41), dust exposure (OR=1.14, 95%CI: 1.01, 1.29), noise exposure (OR=1.23, 95%CI: 1.09, 1.39), heat exposure (OR=1.16, 95%CI: 1.04, 1.29), and work injury (OR=1.22, 95%CI: 1.02, 1.46) increased the risk of sleep disorders. Compared with workers with < 10 years of service, those with 10-20 years (OR=1.31, 95%CI: 1.19, 1.44), 20-30 years (OR=1.34, 95%CI: 1.19, 1.52), and ≥30 years of service (OR=1.35, 95%CI: 1.19, 1.53) had a higher risk of sleep disorders. Compared with non-exercise workers, the risk of developing sleep disorders was lower in workers with occasional exercise (OR=0.61, 95%CI: 0.56, 0.66) and regular exercise (OR=0.55, 95%CI: 0.49, 0.62). The RCS model showed that the weekly working hours and sleep disorders in the steel workers showed a nonlinear dose-response relationship (P<0.05 for overall trend, P<0.05 for nonlinear test). The relationship between weekly working hours and sleep disorders showed a "U" shaped distribution, with a significant increase in the risk of sleep disorders when the weekly working hours exceeded 49 h. Conclusion The non-occupational influencing factors of sleep disorders of employees in the steel enterprise include hypertension, diabetes, physical exercise, and occupational influencing factors include length of service, weekly working hours, shifts, dust exposure, noise exposure, heat exposure, and work injuries. It is recommended to consider both occupational and non-occupational factors to formulate appropriate sleep disorder prevention and control measures for steel employees to reduce the risk of sleep disorders.

The Risk Factors for Radiolucent Nephrolithiasis among Workers in High-Temperature Workplaces in the Steel Industry.

Workers in high-temperature workplaces with inadequate water supply may exhibit symptoms of chronic dehydration and have increased risk of nephrolithiasis. The aim of this study was to investigate the risk of radiolucent stone formation among workers in a high-temperature workplace and the related risk factors associated with the condition. We collected data from 1681 workers in a steel factory in Southern Taiwan who underwent regular health examinations. Radiolucent stones were defined as positive findings on ultrasound with negative radiographic images. The prevalences of nephrolithiasis and radiolucent stones in this study were 12.0% and 5.1%, respectively. Heat exposure and age were two major risk factors influencing the probability of radiolucent stones. We combined the age and heat exposure into four groups (over and under 35 years of age with and without heat exposure) in a logistic regression. For workers younger than 35 years, the odds ratio of radiolucent stones was 2.695 (95% confidence interval: 1.201-6.049) in workers with heat exposure compared to workers without. Our investigation further demonstrated that heat exposure was a main risk factor for radiolucent stone formation. In conclusion, our identification of heat exposure as an independent factor for radiolucent stone development in steel workers highlights the need for attention to be paid to those working in similar environments.

Develop and Evaluate a New and Effective Approach for Predicting Dyslipidemia in Steel Workers.

The convolutional neural network (CNN) has made certain progress in image processing, language processing, medical information processing and other aspects, and there are few relevant researches on its application in disease risk prediction. Dyslipidemia is a major and modifiable risk factor for cardiovascular disease, early detection of dyslipidemia and early intervention can effectively reduce the occurrence of cardiovascular diseases. Risk prediction model can effectively identify high-risk groups and is widely used in public health and clinical medicine. Steel workers are a special occupational group. Their particular occupational hazards, such as high temperatures, noise and shift work, make them more susceptible to disease than the general population, which makes the risk prediction model for the general population no longer applicable to steel workers. Therefore, it is necessary to establish a new model dedicated to the prediction of dyslipidemia of steel workers. In this study, the physical examination information of thousands of steel workers was collected, and the risk factors of dyslipidemia in steel workers were screened out. Then, based on the data characteristics, the corresponding parameters were set for the convolutional neural network model, and the risk of dyslipidemia in steel workers was predicted by using convolutional neural network. Finally, the predictive performance of the convolutional neural network model is compared with the existing predictive models of dyslipidemia, logistics regression model and BP neural network model. The results show that the convolutional neural network has a good predictive performance in the risk prediction of dyslipidemia of steel workers, and is superior to the Logistic regression model and BP neural network model.

Relationship between sleep duration on peak melatonin secretion and renal function injury in steel workers / 中国职业医学

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the relationship between the sleep duration on peak melatonin secretion and renal function injury in steel workers. METHODS: A judgment sampling method was used to select 7 655 steel workers in a steel production department for health examination and questionnaire survey, and the relationship between renal function injury and non-peak sleep time(equivalent to the reduction of sleep duration on peak melatonin secretion) was analyzed using restriction cubic spline(RCS) model and multi-factor logistic regression. RESULTS: The detection rate of renal injury in the study subjects was 14.5%(1 110/7 655). RCS model analysis results showed that there was a linear dose-response relationship between non-peak sleep time and renal injury(overall correlation test χ~2=16.85, P<0.01, nonlinear test χ~2=3.70, P>0.05). Multivariate logistic regression analysis results showed that the workers of non-peak sleep time more than or equal to 4 515-day had higher risk of renal function injury than the workers of non-peak sleep time less than 4 515-day(P<0.05), with odds ratio and 95% confidence interval of 1.4(1.2-1.7), after adjustment for the potential influencing factors such as individual factors and occupational factors. CONCLUSION: Reduction of peak melatonin secretion sleep duration is correlated with renal function injury in steel workers.

Effect of occupational high temperature exposure on type 2 diabetes in male steel workers / 中国职业医学

OBJECTIVE: To explore the effect of occupational high temperature exposure on type 2 diabetes( T2 DM) in male steel workers. METHODS: A cluster random sampling method was used to select 684 male steel workers,who exposed to occupational high temperature in a steel enterprise in Tangshan City,as the high temperature group,and 1 153 male steel workers without occupational high temperature exposure as the control group. The high temperature level of workers in these two groups was measured. The cumulative exposure( CE) of high temperature was calculated,and occupational health exam was performed. The multivariate logistic regression analysis and restricted cubic splines were used to analyze the relationship between high temperature CE and T2 DM. RESULTS: The prevalence of T2 DM in high-temperature group was higher than that in the control group( 13. 0% vs 7. 9%,P < 0. 05). The multivariate logistic regression analysis results showed that the risk of T2 DM in the high temperature group was higher than that in the control group after adjusting for age,body mass index,smoking,drinking,physical exercise and parents with diabetes( P < 0. 05). The 95% confidence interval was 1. 65( 1. 17-2. 33). Restricted cubic spline analysis showed that the high temperature CE was correlated with the prevalence of T2 DM in workers( P < 0. 01) and showed a linear correlation( nonlinearity test,P > 0. 05). CONCLUSION: Occupational high temperature exposure is associated with the occurrence of T2 DM in male steel workers. The male steel workers with high temperature CE show high prevalence of T2 DM risk.

Effect of cumulated noise exposure on the intima-media thickness of carotid artery in steel workers / 中国职业医学

OBJECTIVE: To explore the effects of cumulative noise exposure(CNE) on the intima-media thickness(IMT) of carotid artery in steel workers. METHODS: A cluster random sampling method was used to select 1 437 noise exposed workers in a steel company as study subjects. The CNE was calculated according to the noise intensity of the workplace, and the occupational health check was carried out to construct the structural equation model of noise to IMT. RESULTS: The detection rate of carotid atherosclerosis(CAS) in these 1 437 subjects was 38.3%. The CAS detection rates of steel workers increased with the increasing CNE(P<0.01). The structural equation model had good fitting effect. Path analysis showed CNE can indirectly affect IMT through blood pressure, triglycerides, fasting blood glucose, homocysteine, high-density lipoprotein & apolipoprotein A, low-density lipoprotein & apolipoprotein B. The total effects were-0.375, 0.337, 0.248, 0.117, 0.056, 0.056 and 0.018 respectively. CONCLUSION: CNE can indirectly increase the IMT of steel workers by acting on the proximal cause.

Effects of occupational stress on total cholesterol and triglyceride among male steel workers / 中国职业医学

OBJECTIVE: To analyze the effect of occupational stress on abnormity of serum total cholesterol and triglyceride in male steel workers. METHODS: A total of 3 957 male steel workers from an iron and steel group company were selected as study objects by judgment sampling method. Occupational stress was measured by the Chinese version of Job Content Questionnaire. The serum total cholesterol and triglyceride levels were measured using fasting venous blood. RESULTS: Among the 3 957 workers,the detection rate of occupational stress was 56. 8%,and 55. 0% of them showed high social support. The abnormal rates of total cholesterol and triglyceride were 21. 8% and 40. 9%,respectively. The multivariate logistic regression analysis showed that workers with high social support had high risk of abnormal total cholesterol and abnormal triglyceride than workers with low social support( P < 0. 05) after adjusting for confounding factors such as age,education level,marital status,body mass index,smoking and drinking alcohol,tea. The odds ratio of abnormal total cholesterol in occupational stress workers was 1. 17 times of that of non-occupational stress workers. No association was found between occupational stress and abnormal triglyceride( P > 0. 05). CONCLUSION: Occupational stress may be associated with abnormity of total cholesterol in male steel workers. Social support is an important influences factor to the abnormity of total cholesterol and triglyceride in male steel workers.

Prevalence of Musculoskeletal Disorders among Iranian Steel Workers.

BACKGROUND: Musculoskeletal disorders in developing countries are considered as main cause of occupational disorders and disability and highly associated with socioeconomic burden to individual, organization and society in general view. The purpose of this study was to determine the prevalence of musculoskeletal disorders and associated risk factors among Iranian steel workers. METHODS: In a cross-sectional study, 1439 questionnaires were provided from 1984 randomly selected workers of four Iranian steel industries. Data of musculoskeletal disorders was gathered by means of standardized Nordic self-reporting questionnaire. Demographic and work related data were collected into the check list. RESULTS: Out of 1984 individuals, 1439 questionnaires returned and mean age of study workers was 37.23±8.74 years old. Among workers, 46.3% in the past week and 61% in the last year claimed one of musculoskeletal disorders in their bodies. Lumbar, knee(s) and neck areas had the most common musculoskeletal disorders. Musculoskeletal disorders had significant association with the job time of work and BMI. CONCLUSION: Musculoskeletal disorders in Iranian steel industries happened in high rate. Ergonomic interventions strategies into the workplaces must be focused to eliminate environmental hazards such as apposition on the time of work and manual handling of heavy loads.