Prevalência de perda auditiva induzida por ruído em empresa metalúrgica

Abstract

ObjectiveTo analyze the prevalence of cases suggestive of noise-induced hearing loss(NIHL) among metalworkers who were potentially exposed to occupational noise(from 83 to 102 dB).MethodsA cross-sectional study was carried out in a metalworking company providing servicesin Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Clinical and occupational data on 182 workers who were active between November 2001 and March 2002 were obtained from the company’sHearing Conservation Program and analyzed. In order to characterize the noiseexposure status within the work environment, the acoustic classifications from theoperating units of the client companies were used, due to difficulty in quantification atan individual level. Associations between these cases and variables such as age,length of service in the company, length of exposure to occupational noise and degreeof use of individual protection equipment were tested by means of prevalence ratiosand logistic regression analysis.ResultsThe prevalence of cases suggestive of NIHL was 15.9% and significant associations(p<0.05) were identified from multivariate analysis between these cases and thevariables of age and degree of use of individual protection equipment.ConclusionsThe results found contribute towards better understanding of the behavior of some ofthe main characteristics of NIHL, in a particular situation of the organizing of workthat is relatively common in the Brazilian industrial context.