Methodology for environmental health assessment of adaptive response to professional activity factors as part of health risk assessment

Introduction. The article presents the findings of a study of the adaptive responses of working people depending on their professional activity nature.

The purpose of the study is to evaluate the adaptive response of working people exposed to harmful and dangerous factors. 

Material and methods. The research involved 225 people, including 157 cases exposed to different hazards and dangers: Chernobyl nuclear power plant disaster relief workers (their average age was 59.2 ± 2.2 years (M ± m)); servicemen working with rocket fuels (their average age was 30.6 ± 1.3 years (M ± m)); and service members participated in combat operations (their average age was 32.0 ± 0.8 years (M ± m)). A set of standard methods was used to assess their cardiorespiratory system’s functional state, biological age, activity levels in different organs, and adaptive abilities.

Results. The study has made it possible to describe distribution in terms of ANS response, biological age, adaptive potential, and their correlation. The relief workers showed a medium inverse correlation between adaptive potential and ANS response type (r = -0.308; р = 0.153) and a significant medium positive correlation between adaptive potential and biological age (r = 0.690; р < 0.001). The servicemen working with rocket fuels showed a high medium positive correlation (r = 0.726; р = 0.001) and a significant medium positive correlation (r = 0.658; р < 0.004) between adaptive potential and ANS response type and biological age, respectively. The servicemen who had participated in combat operations showed weak inverse correlation (r = -0.139; р = 0.155) and medium positive correlation (r = 0.683; р = 0.005) in the first and second case, respectively.

Conclusion. The biological age, individual aging rate, ANS response, and potential adaptive performance can be used as criteria for assessing health risks for working people exposed to different hazards and dangers and determining groups of people who need case follow-up.