A Study of the Relationship between Drinking, Smoking and Stress of Workers by Analyzing Heart Rate Variability

일개 사업장 근로자들의 한방건강검진에서 심박동변이도(HRV) 측정을 통한 음주와 흡연여부에 따른 스트레스 결과 분석

Objectives : This study investigated the relationship between drinking, smoking and stress of workers by analyzing heart rate variability. The subjects were workers in the automobile manufacturing industry. Methods : The subjects consisted of 21,239 and 19,999 industrial workers who had received health examination by Korean oriental medicine and submitted questionnaires about drinking history and smoking history, during 8 months from April to November. The subjects were categorized into drinking history and smoking history. The heart rate variability was measured for five minute at rest using SA-3000P (Medicore) and reported stress severity as stress index, stress resistance and fatigue. We analyzed the relationship between drinking, smoking and stress into frequencies, $x^2$-test using the SPSS Ver. 12.0. Results : Regarding the relationship between drinking and stress index orstress resistance, there was no statistically significant difference, but regarding the relationship between drinking and fatigue, the drinker group had a significantly higher level of fatigue than the non-drinker group. There was a statistically significant difference in stress index, stress resistance and fatigue between the current-smoker group and others. Stress resistance of the current-smoker group had lower levels than the non-smoker group or ex-smokers. On the other hand, stress index and fatigue of the current-smoker group had higher levels than the non-smoker group or ex-smokers. Conclusions : The above results revealed that drinking and smoking could put workers under a lot of stress. Smoking workers were especially apt to be under stress and had difficulty in alleviating stress.