Using mathematical models in the assessment of the circulatory system in employees working under harmful occupational conditions

Introduction. According to the results of medical examinations of metallurgists, in the structure of newly identified somatic morbidity, circulatory system diseases (CSD) are one of the leading pathologies. To assess the prevalence of CSD in workers in harmful working conditions, it is possible to use various mathematical solutions as a tool. The objective of the study was to substantiate the possibility of using variance analysis and classification tree (CT) methods to assess the prevalence of circulatory diseases in industrial workers. Materials and methods. Data of medical examinations and a questionnaire-based survey of three hundred eight workers of steel production were input into a database. The interrelationship between CSD and individual and occupational risk factors was examined using a one- and two-way ANOVA. The classification tree method was used for a multivariate analysis. Results. The one- and two-way ANOVA revealed a statistically significant correlation between the CSD family history (p=0.001) and age, years of occupational exposure, overweight, blood glucose level, total cholesterol (p<0.05) and the CSD prevalence in the steel workers. We applied the classification tree method to make decisions on referring the subjects to potentially “healthy” and “sick” workers by determining the CSD prevalence in relation to various combinations of risk factors. Limitations. This study is limited to the results of medical examinations of the workers collected over a one-year period. Conclusions. Our experience in using the analysis of variance and classification tree to evaluate the CSD prevalence in ferrous industry employees allows recommending them for use in assessing the prevalence of various diseases in workers exposed to occupational hazards.