Background Hand-arm vibration disease (HAVD) is a chronic progressive disease caused by long-term exposure to hand-transmitted vibration, but the mechanism by which vibration affects peripheral vascular function of fingers is not completely clear.

Objective To study the association between vasoactive factors and HAVD, and to screen specific indicators for its early diagnosis and prevention.

Methods Judgmental sampling method was used to select workers with (HAVD group) and without HAVD (vibration contact group), and non-hand-transmitted vibration operation workers (control group), with 60 workers in each group. The levels of leukotriene B4 (LTB4), vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), 5-hydroxy tryptamine (5-HT), interleukin-1β (IL-1β), and calcitonin gene-related peptide (CGRP) in plasma of the three groups were measured by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. The association between vasoactive factors and HAVD was analyzed using logistic regression, and the diagnostic HAVD indicators were screened by receiver operator characteristic (ROC) curve of a multivariate model indicator \widehatY .

Results The hand symptom rates of the HAVD group, the vibration contact group, and the control group were 26.7%, 66.7%, and 96.7% respectively, with a significant difference (P<0.05). The levels of LTB4, 5-HT, IL-1β, and CGRP in the HAVD group were the highest followed by the vibration contact group, and lowest levels were in the control group (P<0.05). There was no significant difference in the VEGF level among the three groups (P>0.05). The logistic regression results showed that higher levels of LTB4 (OR=1.048, 95%CI: 1.022-1.076), 5-HT (OR=1.011, 95%CI: 1.004-1.018), IL-1β (OR=1.148, 95%CI: 1.071-1.230), and CGRP (OR=1.055, 95%CI: 1.008-1.104) were associated with a higher risk of HAVD (P<0.05). The order of the potential indicators' area under the ROC curve from high to low was: \widehatY (0.969) > IL-1β (0.907) > LTB4 (0.876) > 5-HT (0.858) > CGRP (0.836).

Conclusion The expression levels of LTB4, 5-HT, IL-1β, and CGRP are altered with occupational exposure in hand-transmitted vibration operations and may be associated with HAVD; VEGF is not found to be associated with HAVD. The accuracy of early screening for HAVD can be improved by combining the monitoring of various biochemical indicators.