Dyslipidemias among workers in the Arctic zone of Russia

Introduction. Secondary hyperlipidemia plays an important role in the pathogenesis of atherosclerosis in cardiovascular diseases.

Goal is to evaluate the blood lipid spectrum in working men in the Arctic zone of Russia to prevent the risk of developing cardiovascular complications.

Materials and methods. We determined the blood lipid spectrum (triglycerides (TGL), total cholesterol (TC), low-density lipoproteins (LDL-C), and high-density lipoproteins (HDL-C), the type of dyslipidemia in two groups of men working in the Arctic (n=51) and the Subarctic (n=54) for 7.1±0.2 years and 6.4±0.6 years (p=0.45) with different working, living, and rest conditions.

Results. TC in both groups was in the “borderline high” zone, and Q₇₅ was in the “high” zone, HDL-C in Q₇₅ was above the reference limit, Q₂₅ in the first group was in the “borderline high” zone, in the second TC and HDL-C were normal. TGL parameters: in the first group Q₇₅ is above normal, in the second group it is normal; LDL-C, respectively, in the range of the upper zone “norm” — the lower zone “high”, as well as normal. Lipid metabolism disorders were detected in 98 and 83.9% of men working in various climatic zones of the Arctic zone. Hypercholesterolemia and mixed dyslipidemia in the Arctic were found in 43.1% of those examined, respectively, and in the Subarctic — in 38.7 and 16.2%. An increase in HDL cholesterol was detected in 62.7% of those examined in the Arctic and in 29% of those examined in the Subarctic, respectively. The proportion of people with low HDL-C in the Arctic is 3.6 times less, with high THL — 8.1 times less (2% versus 16.1%), which determines the prevalence of the risk of developing cardiovascular complications in the Subarctic.

Limitations. Men of physical and mental labour in the Arctic in an organized team, mental labour in the Subarctic in an urban environment.

Conclusion. The results update the assessment of dyslipidemia in the Arctic zone of Russia, which will allow developing preventive measures to preserve the health of people working in extremely cold climates.

Compliance with ethical standards. The work was carried out in accordance with the conclusion of the Ethics Committee of the Volga Research Medical University of the Ministry of Health of Russia, protocol No. 4 dated March 14, 2022.

Patient consent. Each participant of the study (or his/her legal representative) gave informed voluntary written consent to participate in the study and publish personal medical information in an impersonal form in the journal “Gigiena i Sanitariya (Hygiene and Sanitation, Russian journal)”.

Conribuiton:
Rakhmanov R.S. — concept and design of the study, writing the text, responsibility for the integrity of all parts of the article;
Bogomolova E.S. — editing, approval of the final version of the article;
Razgulin S.A. — participation in the interpretation of results, preparation of the text;
Potekhina N.N. — collection of literature data, participation in statistical processing of the material;
Narutdinov D.A. — collection, systematization and statistical processing of material.
All authors are responsible for the integrity of all parts of the manuscript and approval of the manuscript final version.

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

Acknowledgement. The study had no sponsorship.

Received: September 27, 2023 / Revised: December 05, 2023 / Accepted: December 28, 2023 / Published: January 31, 2024