Zhonghua Lao Dong Wei Sheng Zhi Ye Bing Za Zhi · Jul 20, 2026

Association between occupational hazardous factor exposure and chronic disease multimorbidity in steel workers

By Ma X, Xu XH, Lu HP et al.

Objective: To understand the current status of chronic disease multimorbidity among steel workers, and to further explore the correlation between occupational hazardous factor exposure with chronic disease multimorbidity among steel workers. Methods: From March to June 2017, 6560 steel workers who participated in the 2017-2018 occupational health examinations at a steel company in Tangshan City were selected as study subjects from the Health Effects Cohort of the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei Region were sellected as the research subjects. Data on their demographic characteristics, work-related factors, lifestyle behaviors, and prevalence of chronic diseases were collected. Their height and weight were measured, biochemical indicators were tested, and the occupational hazardous factor exposure of research subjects was assessed. The prevalence of chronic disease multimorbidity among steel workers with different characteristics were compared, and logistic regression analysis was used to at analyze the relationship between the occupational hazardous factor exposure and the prevalence of chronic disease multimorbidity among steel workers. Results: Among the 6560 study subjects, the prevalence of chronic disease multimorbidity was 62.1% in men (3729/6001) and 24.7% in women (138/559). There were statistically significant differences in the prevalence of chronic disease multimorbidity among steel workers in different age, sex, educational attainment, monthly per capita household income, marital status, smoking status, alcohol consumption, family history of multiple diseases, body mass index (BMI), and dietary approaches to stop hypertension (DASH) group (P<0.05). After adjusting for age, sex, educational attainment, monthly per capita household income, marital status, DASH group, smoking status, alcohol consumption, family history of multiple diseases and BMI, multivariable logistic regression showed that, compared with their respective control groups, cumulative night shift exposure ≥2601 d, cumulative high-temperature exposure ≥776 °C·years, cumulative noise exposure ≥1721 dB (A) ·years, and cumulative dust exposure ≥40.47 mg/m(3)·years were all associated with increased odds of chronic disease multimorbidity among steel workers (OR=3.34, 95%CI: 2.29-4.85; OR=2.63, 95%CI: 1.74-3.97; OR=2.75, 95%CI: 1.95-3.88; OR=2.28, 95%CI: 1.62-3.23; P<0.001) . Conclusion: The prevalence of chronic disease multimorbidity in male steel workers is higher than that in females. Night shift, high temperature, noise and dust exposure are all risk factors for chronic disease multimorbidity in steel workers.

doi.org/10.3760/cma.j.cn121094-20241102-00501PubMed 42533648Populations