Investigating the Effect of Workplace Noise Exposure on Cardiovascular Disease Risk Factors: A Case-Control Study

Occupational exposure to noise in the workplaces is a significant health problem and cardiovascular disease is one of the most important and common non-communicable diseases and one of the main causes of premature death. In addition to hearing impairments, noise as a stressor may cause cardiovascular problems, high blood pressure, nerve stimulation, stress and hormonal disorders in the body. The present study aimed to investigate the effect of occupational exposure to workplace noise on cardiovascular disease risk factors.

This case-control study was conducted in 2020 in a large power plant industry. In this study, the health status of employees in both exposed and non-exposed groups was examined for cardiovascular disease risk factors (body mass index, blood pressure, fasting blood sugar, creatinine, and cholesterol, triglyceride and liver enzymes). Data collection in this study was performed by examining the medical records of all male workers, and investigating the exposure or non-exposure to noise by examining the documentation related to noise measurement in the industry. Data were analyzed using two independent sample t-test and Chi-square in SPSS version 26.

There was no significant difference between age, work experience and smoking status of the two groups (P>0.05). The results revealed that mean fasting blood sugar (FBS), triglyceride, liver enzyme (SGOT), blood pressure and body mass index were significantly different in the case and control groups (P<0.05). There was no significant difference in the mean of creatinine, cholesterol, liver enzyme (SGPT) between the case and control groups (P>0.05).

The results of this study revealed that exposure to noise above the allowable occupational exposure limit can be effective on the cardiovascular disease risk factors in individuals, so it is recommended to reduce the risk of these diseases and prevent the progression of complications by periodically assessing the health status of employees, timely diagnosis of noise exposure and performing suitable control measures like engineering controls, management controls and finally use of hearing protection equipment.