Clinical Assessment Of A Radiofrequency Electromagnetic Radiation On Cardiovascular System In Individuals Of Occupational Risk

Abstract

Research objective: to study the influence of the radiofrequency electromagnetic
radiation (RFEMR) on the cardiovascular system in employees working under the
conditions of direct and chronic occupational radiation exposure.
Material and methods. The research involved 119 employees of radio and television
stations (RTS), aged from 21 to 65 years, mainly men (93.3%). The core group with direct
and chronic occupational RFEMR exposure involved electrical equipment engineers,
electricians and electromechanical technicians. All surveyed employees were distributed
in 6 core subgroups: Group I (15 people) with 5 years of professional experience with
RFEMR; Group II (17 people) – professional experience 6-10 years; Group III (25 people)
- professional experience 11-15 years; Group IV (24 people) - professional experience 16 -
20 years; Group V (18 people) - professional experience 21-25 years; Group VI (20
people) - professional experience over 25 years. All employees underwent the following
examination: BP measurement (systolic and diastolic), determination of HR and ECG.
Results and discussion. The study showed that the core group employees had signs of the
electrical potentials increase of the left atrium, positively correlated with their age and
professional experience. The professional experience extension of employees contributed
to a decrease in HR and atrioventricular conduction delay, although those indicators did
not differ between the core, experimental and control groups. Besides, The RTS
employees of the core group had a significantly higher BP level, impairment of the sinoatrial node (SAD) automatism, manifested by rhythm rigidity, conduction disturbance,
atrioventricular conduction delay, 1st degree AV block and right His bundle branch block,
left atrium enlargement and LVH, as well as nonspecific "metabolic" changes in the
terminal part of the ventricular ECG complex.
Conclusion. Chronic occupational RFEMR exposure in the aspect of the cardiovascular
system is associated with the formation of arterial hypertension, heartbeat arrhythmia and
cardiac conduction disorder, appearance of ECG signs of left ventricle hypertrophy, the
severity of which does not correlate with the level of BP, changes in the normal course of
myocardial repolarization processes. All of these factors progressively increase with the
age and professional experience of RTS employees.