[Preliminary investigation of neurasthenic syndrome induced by occupational hazards]

In this article, an investigation on prevalence of neurasthenic syndrome applying the Clinical Operational Diagnostic Criteria formulated by the Editorial Committee of Chinese Journal of Neurology and Psychiatry (1985), in 166 workers exposed to three kinds of occupational hazard including industrial noise, high frequency magnetic field, and benzene compounds, and matching with 166 workers selected from other workshop in same factory as the controls, was carried out in a diesel engine factory at suburban area, Changzhou City. It was found that the prevalence of neurasthenic syndrome in former group were 26.6%, 35.4%, and 33.3%, respectively. In corresponding control group were 1.06%, 4.2%, and zero percent, respectively. The results revealed no statistic difference among three subgroups of the former, but there were significantly higher then that of the control group with P value in 0.01 level. Base on above data, the authors considered that along the development of industrial modernization, the occupational hazardous factors will be seriously affected the workers health from various aspect. Therefore, these occupational health problems, should be concerned as a top priority in industrial hygiene. We also stressed that the personal protective measure must be set up and put into practice immediately, as it may be play an important role to decrease the prevalence of neurasthenic syndrome. Finally, the possible mechanism of occupational hazards damaging the function of C.N.S. and some related questions were briefly discussed.