Cardiovascular Disease Risk Factors among Copper Industry Workers of the Sverdlovsk Region

Introduction. Cardiovascular diseases (CVD) are the leading cause of death in the working-age population including occupational deaths. Materials and methods. We conducted general clinical and biochemical studies among copper industry workers including a complete cholesterol test, blood lead and copper tests, volumetric sphygmography with determination of the cardio-ankle vascular index (CAVI), and ultrasound examination of the carotid arteries with intima-media thickness measurements (IMT). Results. We established that the main cardiovascular disease risk factors among our subjects were smoking (72.2%), different types of obesity (33.3%), total cholesterol levels higher than 4.9 mmol/L (57.9%), fasting hyperglycemia (73.9%), and hypertension stages 1 and 2 (40.7%). We also observed increased arterial stiffness by CAVI in 28.7% of the subjects that became more prevalent with the rise in the total CVD risk by SCORE (p=0.00105). Conclusions. We found correlations between CAVI and blood copper levels (r=0.33), years of exposure to occupational risk factors (r=0.187), and IMT (r=0.41). This finding enabled us to recommend the use of CAVI for identification and follow-up of workers at risk of cardiovascular diseases with a simultaneous decrease in exposures to occupational risk factors.