The leading risk factors for cardiovascular diseases in workers of the main professions of coal mines

The restructuring of the coal industry, the priority of which was to focus on less costly, high-performance technologies for open-pit coal mining, determines the need for a review and detailed scientific justification of the modern assessment of health risk factors for workers at the Kuzbass coal mines.

The study aims to consider the structure of cardiovascular diseases with an assessment of the main risk factors for their development in workers of Kuzbass coal mines.

The authors have analyzed the results of periodic medical examinations of 11 255 workers of the main professions of Kuzbass coal mines with an in-depth examination of 139 drivers.

Results. The structure of the main diseases of the circulatory system in workers of Kuzbass coal mines is represented by hypertension of the 1^st and 2^nd degrees, coronary heart disease, cardiac arrhythmia, high blood pressure in the absence of a diagnosis. The main harmful industrial risk factors to the health of coal mine workers are: local and general vibration, physical overload, exposure to coal dust, noise, and microclimate. The degree of negative effect of these factors is directly dependent on the duration of their impact — the age of the employee and work experience. Of the modifiable risk factors for the development of circulatory system diseases in coal mine workers, the general pathogenetic line comes out in the first place — obesity, hypertension, dyslipidemia. Significant risk factors also include impaired carbohydrate tolerance and diabetes mellitus, smoking and physical inactivity.

Identification of traditional modifiable risk factors for the development of circulatory system diseases in coal mine workers, such as obesity, hypertension, dyslipidemia, impaired carbohydrate tolerance, having a common pathogenetic line, their correction and monitoring using an automated system will achieve adherence to treatment and reduce cardiovascular disasters.

Limitations. The study is limited to the number of coal mine workers who underwent periodic medical examinations in 2023 at the regional occupational pathology center.

Ethics. The examination of patients corresponded to the ethical standards of the Bioethical Committee of the Scientific Research Institute for Complex Problems of Hygiene and Occupational Diseases (Minutes of meeting No. 4, §2 dated November 18, 2021), developed in accordance with the Helsinki Declaration of the World Medical Association (ed. 2013). All examined persons gave written informed consent to participate in the study.

Contributions:
Chasskikh E.V. — the concept and design of research, writing the text;
Korotenko O.Yu. — material collection and data processing, statistical processing, text writing;
Mikhailova N.N. — writing text, editing.

Funding. The study had no funding.

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

Received: 08.07.2025 / Accepted: 27.08.2025 / Published: 05.10.2025

1. Agafonov P.E. Prospects for the coal industry in the russian federation. Nauka i biznes: puti razvitiya. 2023; (5): 88–93. https://elibrary.ru/bjecon (in Russian).

2. Piktushanskaya T.E., Chasovskikh E.V., Zemlyakova S.S. Health status of coal industry workers. Med. truda i prom. ekol. 2023; 63(6): 359–66. https://doi.org/10.31089/1026-9428-2023-63-6-359-366 https://elibrary.ru/rnmgso (in Russian).

3. Ministry of Labor and Employment of the Population of Kuzbass. On the state of working conditions and labor protection in Kuzbass in 2023: Regional information and analytical review (Kemerovo, August 2024). Informatsionnyy byulleten' “Okhrana truda i promyshlennaya bezopasnost'”. 2024; 8: 3–89 (in Russian).

4. Biryukova O.V. The history of restructuring coal mining industry in Kuzbass (1994–2012): achievements and complications. Vestnik KemGU. 2013; 2–3: 194–8. https://elibrary.ru/qbrmfx (in Russian)

5. Izmerov N.F. Industrialization and its consequences for the health of workers. Gigiena i sanitariya. 1992; 4: 11–8 (in Russian).

6. Ismerov N.P., Skvirskaya G.P. Work conditions as risk factors of morbidity and mortality development due to cardiovascular pathologies. Byulleten' Vostochno-Sibirskogo nauchnogo tsentra Sibirskogo otdeleniya Rossiyskoy akademii meditsinskikh nauk. 2005; 2: 14–20. https://elibrary.ru/kzzfuj (in Russian).

7. Shliapnikov D.M., Shur P.Z., Vlasova E.M., Alexeyev V.B., Lebedeva T.M. Occupational risk of cardiovascular diseases in workers engaged into underground mining. Med. truda i prom. ekol. 2015; 8: 6–9. https://elibrary.ru/uhnfiv (in Russian).

8. Skovronskaya S.V., Meshkov N.A., Valtseva E.A., Ivanova S.V. Priority risk factors for population health in large industrial cities. Gigiena i sanitariya. 2022; 101(4): 459–67. https://doi.org/10.47470/0016-9900-2022-101-4-459-467 https://elibrary.ru/sjqpzc (in Russian).

9. Vladzymyrskyy A.V., Goncharova I.V., Sidorov A.D., Tereshchenko A.V. The incidence of diseases of the circulatory system in 2015–2022: a comparative study of dynamics in the context of a pandemic. Sovremennye problemy zdravookhraneniya i meditsinskoy statistiki. 2024; 5: 167–87. https://doi.org/10.17116/profmed20222511128 https://elibrary.ru/dgghvy (in Russian).

10. Shastin A.S., Gazimova V.G., Tsepilova T.M., Malykh O.L., Panov V.G. Circulatory disease rates in the working-age population of the Russian Federation in 2015-2019: regional features. Profilakticheskaya meditsina. 2022; 25(11): 28–35. https://doi.org/10.17116/profmed20222511128 https://elibrary.ru/vhbdyj (in Russian).

11. Saenko V.V. Russia on the global coal market: analysis, forecast and key issues. Energeticheskaya politika. 2018; 6: 118–27. https://elibrary.ru/gxekfy (in Russian).

12. Chebotarev A.G. Special evaluation study of mine personnel working conditions. Gornaya promyshlennost’. 2019; 1: 42. https://doi.org/10.30686/1609-9192-2019-1-143-42-44 https://elibrary.ru/wtyfib (in Russian).

13. Petrova E.V. Features of conducting a special assessment of working conditions. E-Scio. 2022; 8: 362–8. https://elibrary.ru/qmawww (in Russian).

14. Prokopenko L.V., Chebotarev A.G., Golovkova N.P., Leskina L.M., Nikolaev S.P. Working conditions, occupational morbidity, risks of violation health of drivers of mining machines in quarries. Med. truda i prom. ekol. 2022; 62(6): 403–11. https://doi.org/10.31089/1026-9428-2022-62-6-403-411 https://elibrary.ru/kzksat (in Russian).

15. Voevoda M.I., Chernyshev V.M., Strelchenko O.V., Mingazov I.F. Physical conditions of working population in the Siberian federal district. EKO. 2019; 6: 26–42. https://doi.org/10.30680/ECO0131-7652-2019-6-26-42 https://elibrary.ru/zkfxiz (in Russian).

16. Babanov S.A., Baraeva R.A. Professional cardiovascular lesions. RMJ. 2015; 23(15): 900–6. (in Russian).

17. Potemkina R.A., Mylnikova L.A., Kamynina N.N., Pivovarova O.A. Prevention of noncommunicable diseases: from risk factors to the national programs. Zdravookhraneniye Rossiyskoy Federatsii. 2021; 65(5): 440–6. https://doi.org/10.47470/0044-197X-2021-65-5-440-446 https://elibrary.ru/tcczas (in Russian).

18. Sedykh D.Yu., Tsygankova D.P., Nakhratova O.V., Artamonova G.V., Barbarash O.L. Risk factors for ischemic events in residents of Kemerovo and Kemerovo region at 3-year follow-up (results of the urban rural epidemiology study). Ateroscleroz. 2022; 18(2): 129–41. https://doi.org/10.52727/2078-256X-2022-18-2-129-141 https://elibrary.ru/gzrpaj (in Russian).