Study on the effect of occupational exposure on hypertension of steelworkers based on Lasso-Logistic regression model

Abstract

Objectives: This study aimed to use a stable and predictive method: Lasso regression model to analyze hypertension's influencing factors and explore the interactions between occupational exposures.

Study design: This has been a nested case-control study.

Methods: The case group consisted of 959 patients with high blood pressure found during the study. 959 hypertensive patients, matched 1:1 from the cohort based on the age ±2 years and same gender distribution, served as the control group. Logistic regression has been performed to analyze the relationship between occupational exposures and hypertension after the variables were screened by the Lasso regression model and to explore the interactions between the various occupational exposures.

Results: The incidence rate of hypertension among steelworkers was 33.95 %. Noise, dust, high temperature, carbon monoxide (CO), and shift work have been found to be significantly associated with the risk of hypertension, which is 1.329, 1.370, 1.900, 1.309, and 1.427 times higher than that of the control group, respectively. In addition, a multiplicative interaction between dust and noise has been found (P = 0.038).

Conclusion: The study suggested that exposure to dust, high temperature, CO, noise, and shift work increases the risk of hypertension among steelworkers and that the risk of hypertension is more pronounced among workers exposed to both dust and noise.

Keywords: Hypertension; Lasso regression; Nested case-control study; Occupational exposure; Steelworkers.