Noise exposure and prevalence of high blood pressure among weavers in Iran.

821 weavers working in three textile mills were examined in this survey. It was found that 8.5% of the workers were hypertensive and 12.4% borderline. All these rates are significantly different from those of the control groups. Also there is a clear increase in the prevalence of hypertensive and borderline cases in the weavers in relation to the length of employment. These findings emphasize the need for, at least annually, periodic examination of the entire work population in order to detect early such adverse health effects and to consider suitable medical care.