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Heart Rate, Stress, and Occupational Noise Exposure among Electronic Waste Recycling Workers

Electronic waste (e-waste) is a growing occupational and environmental health issue around the globe. E-waste recycling is a green industry of emerging importance, especially in low-and middle-income countries where much of this recycling work is performed, and where many people’s livelihoods depend...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Burns, Katrina N., Sun, Kan, Fobil, Julius N., Neitzel, Richard L.
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: MDPI 2016
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4730531/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26797626
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph13010140
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author Burns, Katrina N.
Sun, Kan
Fobil, Julius N.
Neitzel, Richard L.
author_facet Burns, Katrina N.
Sun, Kan
Fobil, Julius N.
Neitzel, Richard L.
author_sort Burns, Katrina N.
collection PubMed
description Electronic waste (e-waste) is a growing occupational and environmental health issue around the globe. E-waste recycling is a green industry of emerging importance, especially in low-and middle-income countries where much of this recycling work is performed, and where many people’s livelihoods depend on this work. The occupational health hazards of e-waste recycling have not been adequately explored. We performed a cross-sectional study of noise exposures, heart rate, and perceived stress among e-waste recycling workers at a large e-waste site in Accra, Ghana. We interviewed 57 workers and continuously monitored their individual noise exposures and heart rates for up to 24 h. More than 40% of workers had noise exposures that exceeded recommended occupational (85 dBA) and community (70 dBA) noise exposure limits, and self-reported hearing difficulties were common. Workers also had moderate to high levels of perceived stress as measured via Cohen’s Perceived Stress Scale, and reported a variety of symptoms that could indicate cardiovascular disease. Noise exposures were moderately and significantly correlated with heart rate (Spearman’s ρ 0.46, p < 0.001). A mixed effects linear regression model indicated that a 1 dB increase in noise exposure was associated with a 0.17 increase in heart rate (p-value = 0.01) even after controlling for work activities, age, smoking, perceived stress, and unfavorable physical working conditions. These findings suggest that occupational and non-occupational noise exposure is associated with elevations in average heart rate, which may in turn predict potential cardiovascular damage.
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spelling pubmed-47305312016-02-11 Heart Rate, Stress, and Occupational Noise Exposure among Electronic Waste Recycling Workers Burns, Katrina N. Sun, Kan Fobil, Julius N. Neitzel, Richard L. Int J Environ Res Public Health Article Electronic waste (e-waste) is a growing occupational and environmental health issue around the globe. E-waste recycling is a green industry of emerging importance, especially in low-and middle-income countries where much of this recycling work is performed, and where many people’s livelihoods depend on this work. The occupational health hazards of e-waste recycling have not been adequately explored. We performed a cross-sectional study of noise exposures, heart rate, and perceived stress among e-waste recycling workers at a large e-waste site in Accra, Ghana. We interviewed 57 workers and continuously monitored their individual noise exposures and heart rates for up to 24 h. More than 40% of workers had noise exposures that exceeded recommended occupational (85 dBA) and community (70 dBA) noise exposure limits, and self-reported hearing difficulties were common. Workers also had moderate to high levels of perceived stress as measured via Cohen’s Perceived Stress Scale, and reported a variety of symptoms that could indicate cardiovascular disease. Noise exposures were moderately and significantly correlated with heart rate (Spearman’s ρ 0.46, p < 0.001). A mixed effects linear regression model indicated that a 1 dB increase in noise exposure was associated with a 0.17 increase in heart rate (p-value = 0.01) even after controlling for work activities, age, smoking, perceived stress, and unfavorable physical working conditions. These findings suggest that occupational and non-occupational noise exposure is associated with elevations in average heart rate, which may in turn predict potential cardiovascular damage. MDPI 2016-01-19 2016-01 /pmc/articles/PMC4730531/ /pubmed/26797626 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph13010140 Text en © 2016 by the authors; licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons by Attribution (CC-BY) license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
spellingShingle Article
Burns, Katrina N.
Sun, Kan
Fobil, Julius N.
Neitzel, Richard L.
Heart Rate, Stress, and Occupational Noise Exposure among Electronic Waste Recycling Workers
title Heart Rate, Stress, and Occupational Noise Exposure among Electronic Waste Recycling Workers
title_full Heart Rate, Stress, and Occupational Noise Exposure among Electronic Waste Recycling Workers
title_fullStr Heart Rate, Stress, and Occupational Noise Exposure among Electronic Waste Recycling Workers
title_full_unstemmed Heart Rate, Stress, and Occupational Noise Exposure among Electronic Waste Recycling Workers
title_short Heart Rate, Stress, and Occupational Noise Exposure among Electronic Waste Recycling Workers
title_sort heart rate, stress, and occupational noise exposure among electronic waste recycling workers
topic Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4730531/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26797626
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph13010140
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