[Cardiological pathology in geological professionals]

The staff of the Medical Center "MEDGEO" have surveyed the working conditions and everyday life determined by the specific features of their watch-and-expeditionary work for their impact on the health status of geological workers. Since 1975, more than 13,000 specialists of the industry and members of their families have been examined in different climatic and geographical regions of the country, including 5,689 persons directly in their working places. More than 3,000 specialists have been studied in the clinical setting by using comprehensive diagnostic techniques. The authors' findings indicate that in the study cohort, there is a paradoxical epidemiological situation with a high risk of death due to arterial hypertension whereas the prevalence of this disease in the watch-and-expeditionary workers do not differ from that in the country's population. According to the authors' data, the reasons for the poor situation associated with circulatory diseases are associated with both the high spread of total risk factors for cardiovascular diseases and the adverse impact of some occupational conditions. The situation is also aggravated by inadequate medical control and by the psychological peculiarities of specialists working in the watch-and-expeditionary manner.