Dynamics of occupational disease incidence in the entities of the northwestern federal district of the russian federation in 2011–2020

The aim of this paper was to analyse a 10-year dynamics of occupational disease incidence in 8 entities of the Northwestern Federal District (NWFD) of the Russian Federation. Materials and Methods. The authors used data on occupational disease incidence from the Federal Statistical Survey (form no. 24) of the Federal State Statistics Service (FSSS). Results. It is shown that in 2020 in the NWFD, 37.3 % of the total number of employees worked under harmful and/or hazardous working conditions, which is comparable to the national data. However, in some entities of the NWFD this indicator significantly exceeded the district’s average: in the Arkhangelsk (55.1 %), Vologda (50.1 %) and Murmansk (48.8 %) Regions. Noteworthy, during the period from 2011 to 2020, the NWFD as a whole saw a positive trend towards reducing the percentage of workplaces failing to meet the sanitary standard requirements for noise, vibration, illumination and microclimate. It should be emphasized that over the past 10 years, the NWFD has seen a moderate downward trend (coefficient of determination = 5.3) in the number of patients with newly diagnosed occupational diseases per 100,000 able-bodied population, while the nationwide indicator has followed a strong downward trend (R2 = 9.0). At the same time, in three entities (Komi Republic, Murmansk Region, and Republic of Karelia) this indicator was higher than the average for the NWFD. Thus, in spite of the general positive trend towards reduction in the number of workplaces failing to meet the sanitary standard requirements and towards a decrease in occupational disease incidence during the 10-year period in the NWFD as a whole, some of its entities need to further optimize the working conditions and increase workers’ functional reserves to maintain the health of the able-bodied population.