Risk of arterial hypertension in workers employed at coal-mining enterprises: social and hygienic assessment

We analyzed risks of arterial hypertension development in occupational groups employed at coal-mining enterprises in Kemerovo region (1,915 workers). We used data on arterial hypertension development in Kemerovo region as our reference group; these data were obtained within the framework of ESSE-RF epidemiologic research (700 people aged 25-64 were examined). We noted that work at coal-mining enterprises involved several factors which could have negative influence on workers' health. Working conditions for those workers who had to stay in a mine during the whole working shift meant that workers were under negative impacts caused by unfavorable microclimate and heavy dust loads. To eliminate age discrepancies between workers employed at coal-mining enterprises and the reference group, we performed standardization as per age (data on the reference group were taken as our standard). We calculated arterial hypertension frequencies in the chosen occupational groups and determined relative risks of arterial hypertension via creation of contingency tables. To exclude any influence that might be exerted on relative risks of arterial hypertension by occupational selection, we corrected the obtained results as per "health recruitment effect". Miners had lower arterial hypertension prevalence among them than unorganized sampling made of ordinary Kemerovo region population, 28.46 % and 53.29 % (p