Objective
To assess the relationship of occupational hazards and behavior with hypertension among desert oil field workers.
Methods
A stratified random cluster sampling method was used to select 2 030 desert oil field workers as study subjects. The correlations among hypertension, occupational hazards (occupational stress and noise) and behaviour (smoking, drinking, diet, and vegetable intake) were assessed. Occupational stress was measured by Occupational Stress Inventory Revised Edition. Demographical, noise exposure and behaviour factors were measured by self-administered questionnaires. The data were analyzed by t-test, χ2 test, and multiple logistic regression.
Results
A total of 1 989 valid questionnaires (99.5%) were returned. The prevalence rate of hypertension was 30.6% in the oil field workers. The prevalence rate of hypertension showed no significant differences among the workers grouped by gender, age, body mass index (BMI), education level, ethnicity, marital status, shift work, job title, and type of job, but there were statistically significant differences in the prevalence rate of hypertension among those with different smoking, drinking, daily vegetable intake and noise exposure levels (χ2=290.82, P < 0.01; χ2=52.73, P < 0.01; χ2=6.04, P=0.049; χ2=452.28, P < 0.01, respectively). The results of Occupational Stress Inventory Revised Edition showed differences in occupational role, roleoverload, responsibility, physical environment, and physical strain between the two groups (t=2.19, P=0.029; t=2.51, P=0.012; t=2.04, P=0.042; t=2.36, P=0.018; t=1.98, P=0.048, respectively). The results of multiple logistic regression analysis showed that older age (compared with 20-29 years, the ORs for 40-49 years and 50-60 years were 1.65 and 2.19 respectively), male (compared with female, the OR was 1.49), overweight and obese by BMI (compared with normal BMI, the ORs were 1.77 and 3.25 respectively), and often drinking (compared with no drinking, the ORs was 2.06) were the risk factors of hypertension, while more daily vegetable intake (compared with daily intake < 250 g, the ORs for daily intake of 250-500 g and > 500 g were 0.73 and 0.67 respectively) was a protecting factor of hypertension. Occupational stress and noise exposure had no correlation with hypertension.
Conclusion
Older age, male, and drinking are risk factors of hypertension, but no correlation of hypertension is found with occupational stress and noise exposure.
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