Biometric and Biochemical Indicators as Factors of Metabolic Risk Among Footwear Industry Workers: The Relationship With Work Conditions

Abstract

Introduction. The presence of a connection of metabolic syndrome (MetS) with working conditions in various professional groups dictates the necessity to use diagnostics of its presymptomatic phase in the practice of occupational medicine.
 The aim was to analyze the indices of anthropometric screening and blood lipid spectre among footwear industry workers with the aim of detecting early metabolic disorders..
 Methods. It was conducted a cross-sectional study of 200 footwear industry workers: 119 male (59.5%) and 81 female (40.5%) aged 25 to 62. All workers were divided into groups according to their professional working experience: under 5 years, 6-14 years, 15-21 years.Anthropometric profile indexes were determined: body height (BH), body weight (BW), waist circumference (WC) and hip circumference (HC), body mass index (BMI), waist-to-hip ratio (WHR). Biochemical indicators of the lipid body balance were assessed by total cholesterol (TCH), triglycerides (TG), high density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL CH), low density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL CH), atherogenic coefficient (AC).
 Results: Visceral obesity was detected among 60.56% of female workers and 30.91% male workers. It has been found that the increasing tendency of WHR was associated with the increase of working experience. The share of workers with normal body weight according to BMI accounts for 39.7-41.18%.
 Lipid metabolism indices among workers with working experience under 5 years do not differ from referent norm and are characterized as dyslipidemia in the experience group of 15-21 years. The signs of MetS development were detected in 5.0-5.26% (experience group under 5 years), 10.7-11.1% (6-14 years), and 23.5-31.8% (15-21 years) of footwear industry workers. It was higher in male workers (18.3%), than female (11.7%).
 Conclusions. Professional factors in footwear industry increase the risk of developing MetS components. Inclusion of anthropometric and lipid statuses assessments into the monitoring of health state will help to detect individuals with early dysmetabolic disturbances and to develop preventive instruments directed at saving metabolic health of workers in the branch.