Subjective assessment of the quality of life associated with health, workers in the production of chemical fibers

Introduction. Workers in the production of chemical fibers in the course of their work are exposed to a complex of harmful factors of working conditions that have a negative impact on their health, but their determining impact on the quality of life has not yet been sufficiently studied.

Material and methods. A one-stage (cross-sectional) study of the subjective assessment of the quality of life of one hundred thirty five workers in the production of polyacrylonitrile fiber was carried out using a non-specific questionnaire for assessing the health status SF-36.

Results. Workers in the production of polyacrylonitrile fibers were shown to highly rated their physical condition. In contrast to their psychological state, the value of the average total indicator of “mental health component” was 48.42±0.54 points, which was statistically significantly lower than the value (54.78±0.36 points) of the total indicator of the physical component (p > 0.05 according to W-Wilcoxon criterion), and corresponded to the average assessment. Men rated quality of life (QOL) more highly on the “physical functioning” scale, women — on the “mental health” scale (p = 0.027 according to the Mann–Whitney U-test). A statistically significant correlation was established between the objective criteria of the level of health (the index of functional changes and the level of physical condition) and an assessment of QOL on the scales of “vital activity” and “mental health”. This indicated to a decline in the QOL in workers against the background of an decrease in the body’s adaptive reserves with increasing age and work experience and low social activity.

The limitations of the study are determined by the area of study of production factors that determine health disorders and QOL in workers in the production of polyacrylonitrile fibers, and psychosocial attitudes of the respondents.

Conclusion. Workers in the production of polyacrylonitrile fibers over the age of 60 and workers with work experience of 21 years or more are high-risk groups and need adequate and timely measures to restore functional reserves, maintain health and psychologically correct the quality of life.

Compliance with ethical standards. Research was conducted in compliance with the requirements of confidentiality of personal data, ethical standards and principles for conducting medical research involving humans, set out in the Declaration of Helsinki of the World Medical Association of the latest (2008) revision. Respondents gave written consent to participate in the study.

Contribution:
Novikova T.A. — the concept and design of the study, writing a text, editing;
Migacheva A.G. — the design of the study, collection and processing of material, writing a text.
All authors are responsible for the integrity of all parts of the manuscript and approval of the manuscript final version.

Conflict of interest. The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Acknowledgement. The study had no sponsorship.

Received: April 11, 2022 / Accepted: June 8, 2022 / Published: June 26, 2022