Occupational noise exposure and Raynaud’s phenomenon: a nested case–control study

• Published in: International Journal of Circumpolar Health
• Main Authors: Albin Stjernbrandt, Mahmoud Abu Mdaighem, Hans Pettersson
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Taylor & Francis Group 2021
• Subjects: (mesh): raynaud disease; noise; occupational; hearing loss; hand-arm vibration syndrome; heredity; sweden; Arctic medicine. Tropical medicine; RC955-962; Arctic; Circumpolar Health; International Journal of Circumpolar Health; Northern Sweden
• Online Access: https://doi.org/10.1080/22423982.2021.1969745; https://doaj.org/article/3a25a49ebcc04309b0c60a25d424d6a2

The primary aim of this study was to determine if self-reported occupational noise exposure was associated with Raynaud’s phenomenon. In northern Sweden, a nested case–control study was performed on subjects reporting Raynaud’s phenomenon (N=461), and controls (N=763) matched by age, sex and geographical location. The response rate to the exposure questionnaire was 79.2%. The study showed no statistically significant association between occupational noise exposure and reporting Raynaud’s phenomenon (OR 1.10; 95% CI 0.83–1.46) in simple analyses. However, there was a trend towards increasing OR for Raynaud’s phenomenon with increasing noise exposure, although not statistically significant. Also, there was a significant association between noise exposure and hearing loss (OR 2.76; 95% CI 2.00–3.81), and hearing loss was associated with reporting Raynaud’s phenomenon (OR 1.52; 95% CI 1.03–2.23) in a multiple regression model. In conclusion, self-reported occupational noise exposure was not statistically significantly associated with Raynaud’s phenomenon, but there was a dose–effect trend. In addition, the multiple model showed a robust association between hearing loss and Raynaud’s phenomenon. These findings offer some support for a common pathophysiological background for Raynaud’s phenomenon and hearing loss among noise-exposed workers, possibly through noise-induced vasoconstriction.