State of the circulatory system in stevedores.

Abstract

Examinations on stevedores were performed in three series in the period from 1976 to 1997. Randomly selected were 286 of them in the first series of examinations, 224 in the second and 106 in the third one. In addition, the examinations enrolled also 106 stevedores who have lost their health qualifications, 55 retired workers, and 363 harbour workers whose jobs did not include direct loading of cargo, and they constituted the control group. Cardiographic examinations were performed in the morning, ECG was carried out with the use of Multiscriptor apparatus and the evaluation was made using the Minnesota code. Systolic blood pressure in stevedores averaged: 124.6 +/- 14.9 mm Hg in the first series, 123.8 +/- 18.9 mm Hg in the second, and 127.5 +/- 16.7 mm Hg in the third series; it was 125.9 +/- 14.0 mm Hg in the retired stevedores, and 134.0 +/- 17.0 mm Hg in the control group. Electrocardiographic sings of the left heart hypertrophy were found in: 32.2%, 30.3%, 29.2%, 23.1% and 11.0% of the examined groups, respectively. Traits of the effect of the parasympathetic system in the ECG according to clinical criteria were recorded in: 58.7% of subjects in the first series, 54.5% in the second, 51.9% in the third, 42.6% in the retired stevedores, and 6.9% in the control group. The systolic pressure of 120 mm Hg and less in the newly employed stevedores was recorded in less than 7.5% of examined subjects. In 9.2% cases a syndrome of early repolarization of heart ventricles was noted. Hypervagotony is characteristic for the stevedores with a long period of work. Evaluating their state of the circulatory system, a pronounced beneficial effect of an intense physical activity can be observed.