Quality of life and health among extreme occupation professionals

Introduction. Exposure to extreme occupational factors is associated with deterioration of employees’ physical and mental health, leading to reduced quality of life indicators. Professionals in high-risk occupations are subject to more stringent requirements compared to workers in other fields, including level of occupational training, mental, somatic health status, and personal qualities.

Materials and methods. Health-related quality of life was assessed using the SF-36 questionnaire in professionals with extreme work conditions and employees with standard occupational environments.

Results. Quality of life (QoL) significantly differed between male groups with extreme and non-extreme working conditions across three physical component scales (PF, RP, BP) and two mental component scales (VT, SF). Emergency service workers (EMERCOM) reported higher self-assessed QoL on scales measuring physical functioning compared to their counterparts. However, their daily activities were more limited by pain than those of emergency dispatch staff (EDDS). EMERCOM personnel rated their vitality and social functioning satisfaction significantly higher than dispatchers. Among female workers, QoL indicators revealed differences across five parameters between extreme and non-extreme occupational groups. Disaster medicine nurses showed significantly lower QoL scores than hospital inpatient nurses on both physical (PF, RP) and mental (VT, SF) component scales. Interestingly, their daily activities were less limited by pain (BP) compared to their hospital-based colleagues.

Limitations. The research was limited to male and female professionals in extreme occupations and workers with standard occupational conditions, all belonging to the first period of adulthood (early adulthood), with permanent residence in Khanty-Mansi autonomous Okrug – Yugra.

Conclusion. The predominant quality of life components were psychological dimension scales: mental health for EMERCOM personnel, vitality for EDDS dispatchers, and social functioning for disaster medicine nurses. In the hospital nurse group, the primary QoL component was general health - a criterion belonging to the physical dimension.

Compliance with ethical standards. The study was approved by the Local Ethics Committee of Nizhnevartovsk State University (Protocol No. 1, dated September 12, 2022) and conducted in accordance with the generally accepted scientific principles of the World Medical Association’s Helsinki Declaration (2013 version).

Contribution:
Pogonysheva I.A., Shalamova E.Yu. – concept and design of the study, text writing, editing;
Ragozin O.N. – factor analysis of research results;
Pogonyshev D.A. – data processing, editing;
Arkhipov N.V. – collection of material.
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: June 25, 2025 / Accepted: October 15, 2025 / Published: April 17, 2026

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