(Lifestyle) Experts call for more precautions to avoid heat stress in field workers

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The summer heat affects workers who perform certain outdoor activities, who can experience episodes of heat stress and suffer serious kidney damage.

The arrival of summer encourages workers who work outdoors to suffer the effects of the excessive heat typical of the season, mainly in the province of Guanacaste, in Costa Rica.

During this time, many workers are exposed to heat stress situations, when they perform physically heavy work and in high temperature conditions. The external heat and the internal heat generated by the great muscular activity, produce hyperthermia (high body temperature), which can cause serious damage to the kidney.

Precisely, various studies carried out in the region, by the International Research Team of La Isla Network and other groups of researchers, managed to demonstrate that heat stress can lead to Non-Traditional Chronic Kidney Disease (CKDnT), which is an occupational disease and it is unrelated to the common causes of chronic kidney disease, which are diabetes and high blood pressure.

These investigations have shown that, when workers perform different tasks in the same field, the higher the physical load during work, the more frequently kidney damage develops.

Thousands are affected by non-traditional CKD, both in the Central American region and in the country. In Costa Rica, Guanacaste is the province with the highest incidence of cases of chronic kidney disease, where mortality in men from this cause, during the period 2017-2021, was 4.6 times higher than in the rest of the country. Those affected are, mainly, men between the ages of 30 and 59, who have a mortality rate, due to this cause, 9.2 times higher than in the rest of the country.

An epidemic of chronic kidney disease
“There is an epidemic of chronic kidney disease of non-traditional cause in the Central American region, and Costa Rica does not escape this. According to scientific evidence, as the body overheats, inflammation processes occur in the kidneys, often without apparent symptoms and, over time, this can lead to chronic kidney disease, especially if it recurs frequently. We must bear in mind that chronic kidney disease is irreversible and eventually leads to death. It is essential to improve the working conditions of those workers who work in the sectors of industrial agricultural crops, construction and in other jobs that are 'heavy and hot', ”explains Dr. Catharina Wesseling, epidemiologist at La Isla Network.

The epidemic has been raging in Guanacaste society for more than three decades and there is a large po[CENSORED]tion of sick people in advanced stages, requiring dialysis services.

“The Liberia Hospital coordinates important home dialysis programs for these patients, most of whom are young. At the beginning of 2022, the Renal Therapy Unit will be inaugurated, which will provide peritoneal dialysis and hemodialysis services, to help improve the quality of life of more patients ”, says Dr. Mónica Espinoza, coordinator of the Dialysis Unit from Hospital Enrique Baltodano Briceño, in Liberia.

This issue has been addressed in the country and the region by La Isla Network and the Costa Rican Agency for Biomedical Research, ACIB-FUNIN, institutions that seek alternatives for the solution of this occupational disease.

How to prevent it?
The studies carried out by La Isla Network have allowed us to obtain knowledge on how this disease can be prevented, by improving the conditions of workers who have a high physical workload, in very hot weather conditions.

“Water-shade-rest programs should be used, with concrete preventive measures, based on evidence. It is necessary that the authorities carry out a more exhaustive epidemiological surveillance and collaborate with the companies so that the appropriate measures are implemented, guaranteeing the access of workers to sufficient rest in the shade, as well as to water and electrolyte solutions in the correct quantities ”, explains Dr. Wesseling.

“We are working together with the group from La Isla, with the Costa Rican Social Security Fund and other institutions, to raise awareness about the need to act in a concrete and prompt manner, because if this disease is preventable, we cannot allow it to continue to present more cases in the country. We are initiating new investigations to look for additional alternatives to prevent this serious threat to the health of so many young workers. Said research will have a great impact on their families and society ”, emphasizes Dr. Rolando Herrero, scientific director of ACIB-FUNIN.

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