Health Status of Siriraj Hospital's Nurses: Uncover the Underlying Health Problems

Abstract

Health care providers' exposure to the hospital environment including infectious diseases and lack of self-awareness of illnesses may lead to critical health problems. The present cross sectional study was conducted to survey the magnitude of health problems in nurses at Siriraj Hospital. The study population included 1,435 nurses, 1,366 female and 69 male, with an average age of 44 ± 6 (range 30-60) years.

Results of the study showed that 5.7 % of subjects had high fasting plasma glucose (FPG), 59.4 % had hypercholesterolemia (cholesterol > 200 mg/dl) and 6.0 % had hypertriglyceridemia (triglyceride > 200 mg/dl). Isolated hypercholesterolemia and isolated hypertriglyceridemia were found in 54.4 % and 1.0 % respectively. Combined hypercholesterolemia with hypertriglyceridemia was found in 5.0 %. Hyperuricemia was found in 8.2 % of subjects. Serum aspartate aminotransferase (AST) and alanine aminotransferase (ALT) levels of more than 2 times the upper normal limit were found in 0.4 % and 1.5 % respectively. Serum alkaline phosphatase of more than the upper normal limit was found in 4.2 %. Anemia was found in 24.9% of cases. Abnormal chest x-ray findings including nodules, calcification, infiltration, fibrosis and effusion were found in 4.5 %. This study uncovered underlying health problems in the majority of the population of health care providers at Siriraj Hospital, who were presumed to be healthy. The most frequent finding was dyslipidemia, which was found in more than half of the study population. This abnormality may lead to more serious illnesses especially cardiovascular diseases. More intensive study is required to determine the associated factors and to find the appropriate strategy in managing this problem on the basis of cost-effectiveness.