Atherosclerotic artery damage in miners with metabolic syndrome
Authors: Filimonov Egor S. , Korotenko Olga Yu. 
Published: May 2022

Introduction. Metabolic disorders can lead to dysfunction of various systems of the human body, including cardiovascular. There is a lesion of the artery endothelium in the form of stenosing atherosclerotic plaques, which can become a substrate for the occurrence of life-threatening and fatal events. The study of the health of miners in this direction is particularly relevant due to the difficult working conditions and the danger of the profession. The study aims to evaluate the relationship of metabolic syndrome and its components with atherosclerotic artery damage in miners. Materials and methods. We examined 199 underground workers of mines in the South of the Kemerovo Region - Kuzbass in the order of passing preventive medical examinations. The researchers divided them into two groups based on the presence of a diagnosed metabolic syndrome. The first of them consisted of persons with metabolic disorders - 75 (37.7%) people, the second - without it - 124 (62.3%); the average age of the examined two cohorts did not differ from each other and amounted to 46.94±5.66 and 46.17±5.14 years, respectively, p=0.321. We conducted the condition of the arterial walls, the function of external respiration, as well as biochemical blood parameters on modern equipment in all the subjects Results. In miners with metabolic syndrome, vascular lesions in the form of atherosclerotic plaques were most common - 54.9% versus 35.8% in people without metabolic syndrome, p=0.011. When analyzing the occurrence of atheromas in different vascular basins, we found that miners with metabolic syndrome had carotid artery lesions more often than those without metabolic disorders: 36.5% and 20.2%, p=0.012. Experts also found a similar pattern with duplex scanning of the main arteries of the lower extremities: 46.7% vs. 25.8%, p=0.0025. There was the greatest association of atherosclerosis in people with hypertension, so stenotic plaques were more often among people with high blood pressure: 64.1% vs. 27.7%. Hyperbetacholesterolemia increased the relative risk of atherosclerosis by 2.2 times. Compared with abdominal obesity, the waist-hip index was a more significant indicator of body anthropometry, increased values of which were in 85.5% of cases against 70.3% in the comparison group. Impaired respiratory function increased the relative risk of atherosclerosis by 2.5 times. Conclusion. The presence of metabolic syndrome in miners we are strongly associating with the development of vascular stenosis. In the prevention of atherosclerosis in miners with metabolic syndrome, it is necessary to take into account elevated values of low-density lipoprotein cholesterol, the level of glycated hemoglobin, impaired respiratory function and the waist-hip index. Ethics. We have conducted the study in compliance with the standards of the Bioethical Committee of the Research Institute of Complex Problems of Hygiene and Occupational Diseases, established in accordance with the Helsinki Declaration of the World Association "Ethical Principles of Scientific Medical Research with Human Participation" as amended in 2013 and the "Rules of Clinical Practice in the Russian Federation", approved by Order of the Ministry of Health of the Russian Federation No. 266 dated 06/19/2003. All the subjects signed an informed consent to participate in the study.