Assessment of Anemia and Lipid Metabolism Disorder Among Baryte Mine Employees

Workers are exposed to a wide variety of hazardous substances
at their workplace and suffer from occupational and nonoccupational
serious medical illness. Anemia is one of the most
common health problems in India which is much more prevalent in
the rural than in the urban areas [1,2]. Globally, anemia affects 1.62
billion people, which corresponds to 24.8% of the population [3]. In
1992, World Health Organization (WHO) global estimates of anemia
prevalence averaged 56%, with a range of 35–75% depending on
geographic location (WHO, 1992). Prevalence of anemia in South
Asia is among the highest in the world, mirroring overall high rates
of malnutrition.


Introduction
Workers are exposed to a wide variety of hazardous substances at their workplace and suffer from occupational and nonoccupational serious medical illness. Anemia is one of the most common health problems in India which is much more prevalent in the rural than in the urban areas [1,2]. Globally, anemia affects 1.62 billion people, which corresponds to 24.8% of the population [3]. In and have been termed as "atherogenic dyslipidemia" [4,5]. This pattern of dyslipidemia has shown a strong association with Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus (T2DM) and Cardiovascular Disease (CVD) in several studies in developed countries [5,6]. Psychosocial stress increases serum cholesterol causes hypertension and enhances clot formation. Cigarette smoking is another risk factor for Coronary Heart Disease (CHD). Other occupational factors related to CHD are sedentary work, exposure to carbon disulfide, carbon monoxide and nitrates and chromic exposure to noise, heat and cold.
Approximately 25.0% of all deaths in developed countries are due to CHD (Baxter and Petch, 1995: 270). There are many risk factors for CHD of non-occupational origin, which include hypertension (high blood pressure), smoking, diet, hypercholesterolemia (raised cholesterol) and obesity. These risk factors can work in a synergistic way with occupational exposure, which increases the risk of developing CHD. Many studies in southern India have reported high prevalence of anemia and dyslipidemia. But anemia study mainly carried out among women and study on dyslipidemia was carried out in rural and urban population. Reliable data on the prevalence of anemia and dyslipidemia among mine employees is not much available, particularly among the baryte mine employees of Andhra Pradesh, India. Thus, the present study was undertaken to investigate the prevalence of anemia and dyslipidemia among the baryte mine employees.

Material and Methods
Present study was conducted among baryte mine employees during August 2012 to October 2012. A random sampling method was adopted. All of 415 mine employees, working in different occupations were considered for the study. The data was collected from all the study subjects and analyzed. The personal data on age, sex, work exposure and occupations were noted. Body weight and height were measured according to standardized technique and calibrated equipment's. Body Mass Index (BMI) was calculated as weight in kilograms divided by squared height in meter (kg/m 2 ). The classification of anemia was based upon criteria developed by the WHO. Mild anemia was defined as hemoglobin concentration between 11 to 12.9 g/dl for male and 11 to 11.9 g/dl for female, moderate anemia was defined as 8 to 10.9 g/dl for male and female, severe anemia was defined as less than 8 g/dl for male and female.
Adult Treatment Panel III (ATP III) was used for the classification of the serum levels of each lipid parameters. Data entry and analysis were done by using Epi info statistical software. Proportion, standard deviation and chi square test were used for analysis.          [8]. Mean serum cholesterol levels >200 mg/dl have been shown to be a risk factor for CAD [9]. Present study found that the hypercholesterolemia (47.7%) was the second highest prevalence of dyslipidemia.

Results
In our study, 63.3% of the mine employees had elevated level of triglyceride. Several studies have reported a strong association of CAD with serum triglycerides [10]. There was also a significant difference in the prevalence of high risk of triglyceride levels between male and female groups. In India the overall prevalence of dyslipidemia in various studies ranges from 10% to 73% [11].
The results from a recent cross-sectional study in urban New Delhi (North India) showed the prevalence of hypertriglyceridemia to be 42.7% [12]. There is paucity of studies on anemia and dyslipidemia in baryte mine employees of Andhra Pradesh. However, it is difficult to compare observations of the various studies due to different sampling procedures and different population sample.

Conclusion
The present study found that a high prevalence of anemia, total cholesterol, triglycerides as well as low HDL cholesterol among baryte mine employees of Andhra Pradesh. Our study highlights the prevalence of anemia was more in all the age groups and the prevalence of dyslipidemia was more prevalent in younger age groups. Study confirmed that anemia and dyslipidemia is a major health problem in baryte mine employees of Andhra Pradesh. Hence, the study suggests that there is a need to arise educating