[Occupational stress and arterial hypertension]

Arterial hypertension is an important medical, social and economic problem in the working population. Factors of occupational exposure lead to a much faster and more frequent occurrence of this disease and its consequential complications. Among these factors the following take an important place: noise, carbon monoxide, job dissatisfaction, microclimate conditions, chemical agents, shift work night work monotonous work and so on. The purpose of this study was to analyze working conditions, working environment, work demands and identification of occupational stressors and their influence on development of arterial hypertension.

This investigation included 3470 workers and it examined technological processes, working time, job sastisfaction, interpersonal relations and physical and chemical hazards of their workplaces. The exposed group consisted of 2270 workers occupationally exposed to stressors. Control group included 1200 workers whose workplaces were without stressors. Workers of exposed group were divided into 14 subgroups in regard to presence of occupational hazards.

Arterial hypertension was established in 39.9% of workers of exposed group, which is statistically significantly more than in controls (25.7%). The highest prevalence of arterial hypertension was at workers who were dissatisfied with the job and who were at the same time occupationally exposed to noise and carbon monoxide. Family predisposition and smoking have cumulative effects with occupational hazards.

Possible mechanisms of arterial hypertension development include activation of adrenergic nervous system, renin-angiotensin aldosterone system, higher concentrations of steroids, catecholamines and free radicals caused by occupational hazards.

Occupational stressors are significant factors in development of arterial hypertension of exposed workers. The most important stressors are noise, carbon monoxide and job dissatisfaction.