Burnt sugarcane harvesting - cardiovascular effects on a group of healthy workers, Brazil

• Published in: PloS one 2012-09, Vol.7 (9), p.e46142
• Main Authors: Barbosa, Cristiane Maria Galvão, Terra-Filho, Mário, de Albuquerque, André Luis Pereira, Di Giorgi, Dante, Grupi, Cesar, Negrão, Carlos Eduardo, Rondon, Maria Urbana Pinto Brandão, Martinez, Daniel Godoy, Marcourakis, Tânia, dos Santos, Fabiana Almeida, Braga, Alfésio Luís Ferreira, Zanetta, Dirce Maria Trevisan, Santos, Ubiratan de Paula
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Adult; Agricultural Workers' Diseases - blood; Agricultural Workers' Diseases - etiology; Agricultural Workers' Diseases - physiopathology; Air Pollutants, Occupational - analysis; Air pollution; Autonomic nervous system; Blood; Blood flow; Blood Pressure; Brazil; Burning; Cardiovascular disease; Cardiovascular diseases; Cardiovascular system; Correlation analysis; Creatine; Creatine kinase; Creatine Kinase - blood; Demographic aspects; Environmental risk; Epidemiology; Exercise physiology; Exercise Test; Forearm; Glutathione; Glutathione peroxidase; Glutathione Peroxidase - blood; Glutathione transferase; Glutathione Transferase - blood; Harvesting; Health aspects; Health care; Health risks; Heart; Heart Rate; Hospitals; Humans; Male; Malondialdehyde; Malondialdehyde - blood; Markers; Medicine; Occlusion; Occupational Exposure - adverse effects; Occupational health; Outdoor air quality; Particulate Matter - analysis; Peroxidase; Physical fitness; Physical training; Physiological aspects; Plethysmography; Pollutants; Prothrombin Time; Public health; Rehabilitation; Risk factors; Rural areas; Saccharum - physiology; Serum levels; Sugar; Sugarcane; Sympathetic Nervous System - physiology; Thrombin Time; Urine; Workers
• ISSN: 1932-6203; 1932-6203
• DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0046142

Brazil is the world's largest producer of sugarcane. Harvest is predominantly manual, exposing workers to health risks: intense physical exertion, heat, pollutants from sugarcane burning. Panel study to evaluate the effects of burnt sugarcane harvesting on blood markers and on cardiovascular system. Twenty-eight healthy male workers, living in the countryside of Brazil were submitted to blood markers, blood pressure, heart rate variability, cardiopulmonary exercise testing, sympathetic nerve activity evaluation and forearm blood flow measures (venous occlusion plethysmography) during burnt sugarcane harvesting and four months later while they performed other activities in sugar cane culture. Mean participant age was 31 ± 6.3 years, and had worked for 9.8 ± 8.4 years on sugarcane work. Work during the harvest period was associated with higher serum levels of Creatine Kinase - 136.5 U/L (IQR: 108.5-216.0) vs. 104.5 U/L (IQR: 77.5-170.5), (p = 0.001); plasma Malondialdehyde-7.5 ± 1.4 µM/dl vs. 6.9 ± 1.0 µM/dl, (p = 0.058); Glutathione Peroxidase - 55.1 ± 11.8 Ug/Hb vs. 39.5 ± 9.5 Ug/Hb, (p