Kurtosis Assessment of Cardiovascular Disease Risk Caused by Complex Noise in Coal Mines

This study aims to investigate the relationship between noise kurtosis and cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk while exploring the potential of kurtosis assessment in evaluating CVD risk associated with complex noise exposure in coal mines.

This cross-sectional study started in April 2021 and ended in November 2022. It involved 705 coal miners selected from 1045 participants. The participants underwent questionnaire surveys, physical examinations and assessment of individual noise exposure levels in the form of LAeq.8h. Individual CVD risk was evaluated by employing the Prediction for Atherosclerotic Cardiovascular Disease Risk in China (China-PAR). Logistic regression analyses were used to analyse the effect of noise kurtosis on the risk of developing CVD and adjust for confounders to determine independent effects. Stratified analyses were applied to examine the effect of different noise characteristics on risk.

In cardiovascular risk assessment using China-PAR, 637 and 68 individuals were classified as low and high risk, respectively. Notably, the group exposed to noise levels of 85-100 dB(A) exhibited a significantly higher risk than those exposed to noise levels of <85 dB(A). Regarding kurtosis (β), individuals with β < 3 had low cardiovascular risk, whereas those with β > 5 had high risk, with risk increasing alongside kurtosis. Correlation analysis indicated a strong association amongst noise kurtosis, cumulative noise exposure (CNE) and CVD risk after accounting for individual age and service duration. Logistic regression analysis identified kurtosis as the primary influencing factor for CVD risk (odds ratio = 3.46, 95% confidence interval: 1.68-7.13).

Given the pervasive presence of complex noise in the coal mining industry, kurtosis can serve as a valuable supplementary parameter for adjusting CNE, thus facilitating the assessment of CVD risk associated with complex noise exposure in coal mines.