A study on morbidity pattern among barytes mine workers in southern India

Dr. Nandi Subroto; Dr. Dhatrak Sarang V; Dhumne Umesh L; Ingole Shilpa V; Gupta Shweta R

Volume : V, Issue : I, January - 2015

A study on morbidity pattern among barytes mine workers in southern India

Dr. Nandi Subroto , Dr. Dhatrak Sarang V, Dhumne Umesh L, Ingole Shilpa V, Gupta Shweta R

Abstract :

The mine workers are exposed to various hazards (dust, noise, viation, stress, ergonomic etc) and suffer from many occupational and non occupational serious medical illnesses. The present study was conducted to assess the health status and morbidity pattern among barytes mine workers from south India. 415 mine workers were examined and data was recorded using a questionnaire. Mean age of all the mine workers was 36.7 + 11.8 years. The finding of the study showed high prevalence of heå impairment of 33.2% among these mine workers and it was relatively higher in ≥ 20 years of work exposure group (p<0.001). Pulmonary impairment was found in 13.3% workers. Other findings of the study include anemia (18%), hypertriglyceridemia (13%), hypercholesterolemia (11.8%), diabetes (11.3%) low HDL–C (6%). The visual acuity less than prescribed standards were seen in 32.2% mine workers. The study concluded that along with diseases like pneumoconioses, heå impairment, etc. the life style diseases like obesity, hypertension, diabetes, etc are also in rise among mine workers. Hence there is need of regular medical examination and industrial hygiene surveys to detect the disease at an early stage.