Peripheral circulation and peripheral nerve injury in workers exposed to vibration at two different frequencies

Huimin Huang; Yan Bai; Ziyu Chen; Zhishan Liang; Lyurong LI; Hansheng Lin; Jiajie LI; Yuan Wei; Hongyu Yang; Qingsong Chen

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Peripheral circulation and peripheral nerve injury in workers exposed to vibration at two different frequencies

VernacularTitle:两种不同频率接振工人末梢循环和末梢神经损伤特征
Author: Huimin HUANG ¹ ; Yan BAI ¹ ; Ziyu CHEN ¹ ; Zhishan LIANG ¹ ; Lyurong LI ¹ ; Hansheng LIN ² ; Jiajie LI ¹ ; Yuan WEI ¹ ; Hongyu YANG ¹ ; Qingsong CHEN ³
Author Information

1. Guangdong Provincial Engineering Technology Research Center of Public Health Detection and Assessment/School of Public Health, Guangdong Pharmaceutical University, Guangzhou, Guangdong 510310, China.
2. Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Occupational Disease Prevention and Treatment, Guangdong Province Hospital for Occupational Disease Prevention and Treatment, Guangzhou, Guangdong 510300, China.
3. .
Publication Type:Specialcolumn:Hand-transmittedvibrationandoccupationalhealth
Keywords: hand-transmitted vibration; hand-arm vibration disease; prevalence rate; cumulative vibration exposure level
From: Journal of Environmental and Occupational Medicine 2022;39(11):1198-1203
CountryChina
Language:Chinese
Abstract: Background Hand-arm vibration disease is harmful to human body, but there are no effective diagnosis and treatment so far, and current occupational exposure limits underestimate the health damage caused by high-frequency vibration exposure. Objective To evaluate and compare the damage to workers' peripheral circulation and peripheral nerve caused by different frequencies of vibration operation. Methods Drilling workers (n=187) from a mining company in Shandong Province and golf club head grinding workers (n=228) from a sports equipment factory in Guangdong Province were selected as study subjects. Hand symptoms were investigated. SV106 vibration meter was used to measure the target operation-associated vibration frequency spectrum. The 8 h energy-equivalent frequency weighted acceleration, cumulative vibration exposure level (CVEL), and the working age related to causing white finger in 10% of an exposed group were calculated. Result The study subjects were all male. More grinding workers reported hand symptoms than the drilling workers, e.g. peripheral circulation injury (52.6% vs 19.3%), peripheral nerve injury (71.5% vs 23.0%), hand stiffness (64.0% vs 7.0%), and deformed fingers (69.7% vs 4.3%) (all P<0.001). The main vibration frequencies of grinding operation (500-800 Hz) were much higher than those of drilling operation (125~160 Hz). CVEL and working age of vibration exposure showed a linear rising relationship with the cumulative prevalence rate of peripheral circulation and peripheral never injury, the fitting lines all showed good fitting effects (R²=0.812-0.988), and the slope of the fitting line of the grinding workers was larger than that of the drilling workers. The working age of vibration exposure associated with 10% cumulative prevalence of white finger was shorter in the grinding workers than in the drilling workers (6.81 years vs 10.27 years). According to the ISO prediction formula, the working age of vibration exposure was associated with 10% white finger prevalence shorter in the drilling workers than in the grinding workers (3.12 years vs 8.23 years). Conclusion Both the vibration exposure level and the prevalence of hand symptoms are high in two groups of workers with different vibration frequencies, and vibration exposure at a higher frequency tends to have severer damage to workers' hands.