Features of the formation the of occupational and somatic pathology in workers at ammonia/carbamide production

Introduction. Effects produced by occupational exposures on health of workers employed at the chemical productions have not been given sufficient attention.

The aim of this study was to establish and perform hygienic assessment of specific development of occupational and somatic diseases in workers employed at ammonia / carbamide production.

Materials and methods. We examined two hundred forty four workers employed at an ammonia/carbamide producing enterprise; the observation group was made of 165 production workers (aged 42.2±1.6 years; work records equaled 11.6±1.5 years) and the reference group included 79 administrative workers (42.9±2.8 years and 10.5±1.6 years accordingly, р=0.32–0.58). The groups were divided by age, work records, and occupations (р=0.13–0.97). Working conditions were assessed using sanitary-hygienic, chemical-analytical, and instrumental methods; workers’ health was assessed relying on the results obtained by medical-social surveys, general clinical, functional, instrumental, and laboratory tests.

Results. Adverse working conditions at the analyzed production are determined by exposure to noise level beyond their safe limits; ammonia, nitrogen and carbon oxides, aromatic hydrocarbons, and carbamide dust in workplace air; work intensity. Working conditions at administrative workplaces belong to the hazard category 1–2 (permissible). Diseases of the ear are a priority occupational pathology; priority somatic diseases include those of the endocrine, respiratory, and cardiovascular system. Main production workers face almost tenfold risk of diseases against administrative staff. Morbidity among auxiliary production personnel includes the same occupational and somatic diseases; however, their likelihood is twofold lower. Prevalence of priority pathologies is almost two times higher among main production workers aged younger than 45 years among their peers involved in auxiliary operations; the difference reaches 2.6 times in the older age group.

Limitations. The study results can be extrapolated only on workers employed in similar working conditions at ammonia/carbamide productions.

Conclusion. Longer work records have an apparent adverse effect on prevalence of occupational and work-related diseases in workers employed at main ammonia/carbamide production since they increase likelihood of such pathologies by up to 20 times when reaching 10 years and by up to 13 times when exceeding 10 years.

Compliance with ethical standards. The study was approved by the local ethics committee of Federal Scientific Center for Medical and Preventive Health Risk Management Technologies (the meeting report No.4 dated January 10, 2024) and accomplished in full conformity with the conventional research principles stated in the WMA Declaration of Helsinki (2013 edition). All participants gave informed voluntary written consent to participate in the study.

Contributions:
Ustinova О.Yu. – study design and writing the text;
Kostarev V.G., Nurislamova Т.V. – study design, data collection;
Vorobyeva А.А., Nosov А.Е. – writing the text, statistical data analysis;
Babina S.V. – statistical data analysis;
Ponomarev М.D. – data collection;
Ponomarev А.L. – data collection and statistical analysis.
All authors are responsible for the integrity of all parts of the manuscript and approval of the manuscript final version.

Conflict of interest. The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Funding. The study had no sponsorship.

Received: September 23, 2025 / Revised: November 7, 2025 / Accepted: December 2, 2025 / Published: January 15, 2026

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