Association between Occupational Noise and Vibration Exposure and Insomnia among Workers in Korea

Background: The effect of noise and vibration exposure on disturbed sleep has been investigated in the past. However, this study was carried out to investigate the relationship between workplace noise and vibration exposure with insomnia amongst representative Korean workers, both simultaneously and separately. Methods: Our research analyzed an overall population of 30,837 workers aged 15 years or older using data derived from the 5th Korean Working Conditions Survey (KWCS) conducted in 2017. Chi-squared tests and logistic regression were performed to investigate baseline characteristics and to quantify the association between workplace exposure to noise and vibration with insomnia. Relative excess risk due to interaction (RERI), attributable proportion (AP), and synergy index (S) were calculated to measure interactions between simultaneous noise and vibration exposure with insomnia. Results: The prevalence of those who reported insomnia was 18.3% of the general population. Among men and women, insomnia in those who were exposed to noise only was 13.9% and 18.3%, respectively, and in those who were exposed to vibration only, it was 23.9% in males and 26.4% in females. Insomnia in those who were exposed to both noise and vibration simultaneously was 20.5% and 41.2% in men and women, respectively. The odds ratio (OR) of insomnia due to noise exposure was 1.10 and 1.07 in men and women, respectively. OR of vibration exposure was 1.84 in men and 1.58 in women. For noise plus vibration exposure OR was 1.83 in men and 3.14 in female workers, where the synergistic effect of noise and vibration exposure could be seen. The association between the varying degree of simultaneous noise plus vibration exposure with insomnia showed a dose-response relationship. The interaction measures showed a synergistic effect of simultaneous exposure in women but not in men. Conclusion: Our study revealed an association between occupational noise and vibration exposure and insomnia, both individually and simultaneously. Additional studies and research are required to further comprehend this relationship.