Noise exposure effect on blood pressure in workers from a metalworking company / Efecto del ruido en la presión sanguínea de trabajadores de una empresa metalmecánica

Resumen

Introduction: The effects of exposure to noise constantly refer only to the loss of hearing ability, without considering the non-auditory consequences associated with noise. Among the non-auditory consequences of noise various investigations have found cardiovascular-related conditions, including hypertension. Method: The exposure to occupational noise and blood pressure of 30 workers in an industrial workshop were evaluated. The methodology of NOM-011-STPS-2001, the Quality of Life Questionnaire in Arterial Hypertension (CHAL) were used, and the systolic and diastolic blood pressure measurements were measured at the beginning, in the middle and at the end of the day. The changes in blood pressure were analyzed using the Student's t-test for dependent data and a level of significance of p = 0.05 was established. Results: A significant increase in systolic and diastolic blood pressure was observed in the two areas with the highest noise levels. There was no relationship between the results of the CHAL and the systolic pressure of the workers. Conclusions: The results show a probable association between noise levels and a significant increase in the systolic and diastolic pressures of the areas with the highest exposure to noise. Because of the size of the sample, it is considered that these results must be confirmed by future work. However, the results make it necessary to protect more susceptible workers from the exposure to noise.