Problèmes de santé dans l'industrie textile en République Démocratique du Congo

ABSTRACT
The objective of this work was to highlight the
influence of the occupational conditions on the
textile sector workers’ health in Democratic Republic
of Congo (DRC).
We conduct an exploratory cross-sectional study of
two populations within a plant located at the North
of the DRC : workers (N = 114) and executive or
employees (N = 96). Our total sample data (N = 210)
were collected by a questionnaire focused on the
procedures, the exposures and the effects on health.
Odds ratio (OR) and confidence interval at 95 % were
estimated. For each significant diseases symptom, a
regression model has been achieved in order to
estimate OR adjusted for association of disease
symptoms and occupational statute.
Workers compared to employees present high
frequencies and exposure rates for many diseases
symptoms. These OR are respectively for cough
(OR = 5,1 ; IC : 2,93-10,68) ; respiratory difficulty
(OR = 2,9 ; IC : 1,42-6,42) thoracic pain (OR = 2,6 ;
IC : 1,31-5,24) ; fever (OR = 2,4 ; IC : 1,27-4,50) ;
upper limbs pain (OR = 4,8 ; IC : 2,55-8,80) ; neckshoulder
pain (OR = 3,8 ; IC : 2,02-7,31) ; ocular
diseases (OR = 2,2 ; IC : 1,17-3,89) and cutaneous
diseases (OR = 2,5 ; IC : 1,18-5,46). The OR related to
the libido loss is highest (OR = 5,5 ; IC : 2, 84-10,71).
In the other hand, the OR of the neuropsychics
disorders are lower than 1 in this comparison and
are respectively of 0,5 (0,28-0,95) for tiredness ;
0,2 (0,08-0,28) for the lack of concentration and
0,07 (0,04-0,18) for the stress.
In conclusion, the frequencies and high OR observed
attest differences of the health issues between the
workers and employees whose causes could be
under the live and work conditions. These results
should be confronted with those of other studies in
health at the work