Coronary heart disease risk assessment among workers in a carbon black factory

Background The production of carbon black (CB) has been considered as one of the top 50 industrial chemicals manufactured worldwide. Working in CB manufacturing process might pose a cardiovascular risk. This study was conducted to estimate 10-year coronary heart disease (CHD) risks among workers in CB manufacturing process. Methods A cross-sectional comparative approach was adopted. Workers at a CB factory in Alexandria were included (n = 271). Participants were distributed into two groups: exposed (n = 154) and unexposed (n = 117). All participants were subjected to an interview questionnaire and blood pressure, anthropometric, and lipid profile measurements. The Framingham risk score (FRS) was calculated for every participant to assess 10-year CHD . Descriptive and analytic statistics were done. Results The mean diastolic blood pressure and mean body mass index were significantly higher among exposed workers (81.49 +/- 9.75 mmHg and 32.07 +/- 5.81 kg/m(2), respectively) than those among unexposed workers (77.86 +/- 9.45 mmHg and 29.68 +/- 4.94 kg/m(2), respectively) (p < 0.01). The mean total cholesterol, triglyceride, and LDL levels were significantly higher among exposed workers (212.44 +/- 40.48 mg/dl, 144.25 +/- 74.66 mg/dl, and 146.12 +/- 34.9 mg/dl, respectively) than those among unexposed workers (199.94 +/- 47.33 mg/dl, 114.02 +/- 62.94 mg/dl, and 134.12 +/- 30.4 mg/dl, respectively) (p < 0.01); while the protective HDL level was significantly lower among exposed workers (41.39 +/- 8.76 mg/dl) compared with unexposed workers (43.6 +/- 9.08 mg/dl) (p = 0.04). Ten-year CHD risk percentage was significantly higher among exposed workers (8.62 +/- 7.79) compared with unexposed workers (5.34 +/- 6.66) (p < 0.001). The percentage of workers who had intermediate-to-high 10-year CHD risk was significantly higher among exposed workers. Conclusions Working at CB manufacturing process could carry an increased 10-year CHD risk. The study recommends that strategies for reduction of CHD risk focus on active screening of workers by utilizing a simple tool (FRS) to monitor risk over time, motivate the workers toward healthy behaviors, and treat hypertension and dyslipidemia, for primary prevention of CHD.