Effect of Long-time High-strength Noise on ECGs of Airplane-service Staff

Objective To investigate the effect of long-time high-strength noise on electrocardiograms(ECGs) in airplane-service staff,supply reference for the prevention of adverse cardiovascular events.Methods The observation group consisted of 708 air force airplane service personnel,and the control group consisted of 356 male postgraduates.The observation group was divided into three subgroups according to the exposure time,i.e.,junior group(1-5 years),semi-senior group(6-12 years) and senior group(≥13 years).The heart rhythm,heart rate and morphologic change of P-QRS-T waves were analyzed.Results Mean heart rate and QTc of the observation group were significantly higher than those of the control group(74.6±5.8 vs 71.3±5.3,0.40±0.03 vs 0.38±0.02,P0.05).The incidence of bundle branch block,ST deviation,T wave flat,QT prolongation and early reporlarization variation(ERV) of the observation group were significantly different from those of the control group(6.1% vs 2.2%,12.3% vs 7.9%,7.5% vs 3.7%,3.2% vs 1.1%,8.5% vs 4.5%,P0.05).The mean heart rate of junior group(76.2±6.9) was higher than that of semi-senior group(74.9±6.1) or senior group(72.4±5.3).The senior group had the longest mean QTc(0.42±0.04) and highest incidence of ERV(15.1%).No adverse cardiovascular event was reported.Conclusion Long-time high-strength noise has significant effect on ECGs of airplane-service staff,but has no obvious association with adverse cardiovascular event.Whether it is related with the relative young ages of the studied subjects warrants further study and long-time follow-up.