Maeda Takafumi, Kaneko Shin-Ya, Ohta Mitsuhiro, Tanaka Kazuko, Sasaki Akihiko, Fukushima Tetsuhito
Department of Hygiene and Preventive Medicine, Fukushima Medical University School of Medicine, Japan.
J Occup Health. 2006 Jul;48(4):223-9. doi: 10.1539/joh.48.223.
We examined the risk factors for heatstroke among forestry workers in Japan during the summer. We distributed a questionnaire to 124 forestry workers to determine heatstroke symptoms, degree of sweating and hydration, as well as perceived hotness and amount of sunlight at work sites. Forty of the workers (32.3%) reported experiencing heatstroke symptoms. Thirteen and 21 of them reported such symptoms during July and August, respectively. Eleven workers experienced heatstroke at around 14:00; 5 and 4 developed symptoms at around 11:00 and 10:00, respectively. Groups with and without heatstroke symptoms significantly differed in terms of perceived hotness (p<0.05), sunlight (p<0.05), degree of sweating (p<0.01) and frequency of hydration (p<0.05) while working. Heatstroke symptoms developed in 60.6% of workers aged up to 50 yr, but in only 22.0% of those over the age of 51 (p<0.01). Multiple regression analysis selected the following key variables associated with the development of heatstroke symptoms (R(2)=0.236 and p=0.006): frequency of urination, hotness, BMI and years of forestry work (standard coefficients: +0.229, +0.194, +0.280 and -0.162, respectively). The results of the present study showed that one third of forestry workers developed some symptoms of early heatstroke during summer forestry work. Furthermore, the results indicate that a short duration of forestry service was one of the risk factors contributing to the onset of heatstroke, in addition to heat stress, loss of body water and electrolytes, and obesity.
我们调查了日本夏季林业工人中暑的风险因素。我们向124名林业工人发放了问卷，以确定中暑症状、出汗程度和水合状态，以及工作地点的炎热感和日照量。40名工人（32.3%）报告有中暑症状。其中分别有13名和21名工人在7月和8月报告有此类症状。11名工人在14:00左右中暑；分别有5名和4名工人在11:00和10:00左右出现症状。有中暑症状组和无中暑症状组在工作时的炎热感（p<0.05）、日照量（p<0.05）、出汗程度（p<0.01）和补水频率（p<0.05）方面有显著差异。50岁及以下的工人中有60.6%出现中暑症状，而51岁以上的工人中只有22.0%出现此类症状（p<0.01）。多元回归分析筛选出以下与中暑症状发生相关的关键变量（R(2)=0.236，p=0.006）：排尿频率、炎热感、体重指数和林业工作年限（标准系数分别为+0.229、+0.194、+0.280和-0.162）。本研究结果表明，三分之一的林业工人在夏季林业工作期间出现了一些早期中暑症状。此外，结果表明，除了热应激、身体水分和电解质流失以及肥胖外，林业工作年限短是导致中暑发作的风险因素之一。
