Current trends in occupational morbidity of industrial sector workers in the context of economic activities

INTRODUCTION: On the basis of competent statistical materials updated in accordance with the All-Russian Classifier of Types of Economic Activity (ARCoToEA 2) and ICD-10, a retrospective analysis of occupational morbidity in different types of economic activity and professional cohorts of the industrial sector of the Saratov region in 2009–2019 was carried out by generally accepted methods.

AIM: This a comprehensive analysis of current trends and trends in the prevalence, dynamics and nosology of occupational morbidity of workers in the industrial sector in the context of types of economic activity on the example of the Saratov region.

MATERIALS AND METHODS: The information base of the study was presented by statistical materials of Rosstat, the Rospotrebnadzor Department for the Saratov Region and the Ministry of Labor and Social Protection of the Saratov Region, updated by us in accordance with ARCoToEA 2 (version OK 029-2014). A retrospective epidemiological statistical analysis of occupational morbidity for the period from 2009 to 2019 was carried out.

RESULTS: During the analyzed period, the number of people employed in the industrial sector of the region’s economy decreased by 17.5% from 380.3 (2009) to 313.7 (2019), while the level of primary occupational morbidity decreased by 2.7 times from 0.68 to 0.25 per 10,000 workers against the background of an increase in the share of workers in harmful working conditions in the extraction of minerals (+27.9 percentage points), in construction (+16.8 percentage points) and manufacturing industries (+11.5 percentage points). The main risk factors for occupational morbidity were physical effects (noise, general and local vibration), pollution of the respiratory zone with industrial aerosols, and the severity of the labor process. The nosological structure of the accumulated occupational morbidity was mainly represented by sensorineural hearing loss (SHL) — 48.7%, vibration sickness (VS) — 15.4%, radiculopathy — 9.6% and chronic dusty non-obstructive bronchitis (CDNB) — 7.7%. Workers in manufacturing industries were mainly identified by SHL (32.4%), VS (17.2%), CDNB (12.4%); transport workers — SHL (77.2%), radiculopathy (10.9%), VS (7.9%); those employed in oil and gas production — SHL (35.7%), VS (28.6%), radiculopathy (17.9%); in construction — VS (22.2%), SHL (18.5%), radiculopathy (18.5%).

CONCLUSION: The results of the identification of deterministic nosologies of the occupational morbidity, characteristic of certain sectors of the economy and professional cohorts, should form associative diagnostic alertness during regulated medical examinations and serve as a scientific basis for the development of targeted regional programs to promote health in the workplace.