Specific features of occupational pathology in the Murmansk region in 2007-2021

Introduction. Employees of enterprises in the Murmansk region are exposed to harmful production factors that increase the risk of developing occupational diseases. The purpose of the study was to analyze the causes, structure and number of occupational diseases in the Murmansk region in 2007-2021. Materials and methods. We studied the results of social and hygienic monitoring «Working conditions and occupational morbidity» and the register of extracts from occupational disease records (Order of the Ministry of Health of the Russian Federation No. 176 dated May 28, 2001) in the Murmansk region in 2007-2021. Results. In the Murmansk region in 2007-2021, employees of enterprises were most often exposed to noise (18.0%), increased labor intensity (12.3%) and harmful chemicals (10.4%). However, the main harmful production factors that led to the development of occupational pathology were the severity of labor (41.3%), harmful chemicals (18.2%), general vibration (17.0%) and noise (14.3%). In 2007-2021, 3,888 occupational diseases were diagnosed in 2,088 employees in the Murmansk region. Workers of mining and metallurgical enterprises develop 80-85% of occupational diseases, among which the most common are vibration disease (19.6%), radiculopathy (17.4%) and sensorineural hearing loss (14.5%). The characteristic features of occupational pathology over the past 15 years have been an increase in the role of increased severity of labor in its development, an increase in the number of nosological forms of diseases diagnosed in one patient, a decrease in the prevalence of chronic bronchitis (22.7 times), an increase in the prevalence of radiculopathy (1.84 times) and mono- and polyneuropathy (2 times), a decrease in the number of workers with newly diagnosed occupational diseases (from 664 to 271 people) in the absence of significant dynamics in the level of occupational morbidity. Conclusion. The features of occupational pathology in the Murmansk region were a rise in the role of increased work severity in its development, an increase in the number of diseases per worker, a 22.7-fold decrease in the proportion of chronic bronchitis, and a decrease in the annual number of workers with newly diagnosed occupational diseases.