gms | German Medical Science

Introduction: There is little information about the influence of stress on the onset of sensorineural hearing impairment in railway engine drivers.

Materials and methods: The aim of research is to determine the main risk factors in etiopathogenesis of professional sensorineural hearing impairment in railway engine drivers.. Two groups – an experimental one: the workers with professional sensorineural hearing (N=164) and control group: the workers with normal hearing (N=60) – were studied and analysed. The psychological and vegetative status of the above groups were also studied and analysed. Statistic analysis was done by Fisher method.

Results: Stress connected with working place conditions affects the health of engine drivers. Increase in the level of anxiety was noted in 89% of subjects in the experimental group, whereas it was registered only in 10% of controls. Vegetative disorders are prevalent in 90% of the studied subjects, but they are evident only in 5% of the control group. Hyperlipidemia was revealed in 55% of the studied subjects compared with 23% in the controls. 33% of subjects in the experimental group had disorders in the microcirculation of the eye fundus blood vessels compared with 18% in the control group. The majority of subjects (75%) from the experimental group had problems with sleep, but such problems were not found in the controls (0%). 79,2% of the experimental group are overweight while 65% of the control group have the same problem (p<0,005).

Conclusions: Professional stress in engine drivers is the main factor of professional sensorineural hearing impairment. The problems with adaptation reserves are manifested by overweight, hyperlipidemia, insomnia and changes in the microcirculation of the eye fundus blood vessels.