A significant number of studies have proven that occupational lead exposure increases the risk of cardiovascular disease. However, evidence regarding the potential effects of lead on the cardiac conduction system is sparse and inconclusive. We planned a descriptive study examining the relationship between occupational lead exposure and electrocardiogram (ECG). We investigated 48 patients, 46 males (95.8%) and two females (4.2%), who were hospitalized in Ankara Occupational and Environmental Diseases Hospital Hospital in 2022 due to lead intoxication, measured blood lead and examined ECG in this study. Descriptive and multivariable analyses were performed. The lead level was determined as 50.00±7.07 in women and 37.80±13.28 µg/L in men. No permanent significant relationship was detected between gender and lead level (p>0.05). No significant relationship was found between lead level and heart rhythm (p>0.05). It was determined that there was no significant correlation between the patients' lead levels and ECG results (ventricular rate, PR interval, QRS complex, QT and QTc) (p>0.05). Our study concluded that abnormal ECG results may also occur in occupational lead exposure but they were not related to toxic blood lead levels.
Key words: Lead exposure, occupational disease, electrocardiogram
|
