Avaliação dermatológica de agentes comunitários de saúde sujeitos à fotoexposição em região tropical do Brasil

Abstract

Aims: To investigate skin lesions associated with or aggravated by sun exposure in community health workers in two municipalities in the metropolitan region of Belém, State of Pará, Brazil, relating the lesions to some sociodemographic variables, and to assess the use of sun protection.Methods: A cross-sectional study was carried out with 11 Family Health Centers in Belém and Ananindeua selected by non-probabilistic convenience sampling. All workers answered a questionnaire and were clinically examined for the presence of skin lesions caused by sun exposure, in addition to having sun exposure variables and their sociodemographic profile assessed. The data were analyzed by the chi-square test, Fisher’s exact test with Yates’ correction, and Student’s t test. A p value ≤ 0.05 was considered to be statistically significant. Results: A total of 83 workers were assessed, most of whom were female (75.9%), aged between 30 and 40 years (44.6%), single (47%), with completed high school education (69.8%), and family income between 1 and 2 minimum wages (67.5%), working in the profession for over 10 years (48.2%). Among the respondents, 83% reported daily sun exposure in their working activity, 47% were exposed for more than four hours, and 73.5% were exposed to the sun at the most critical time (between 10 and 4 o’clock). 56.6% used some kind of protection against sun exposure, and 27.7% reported using sunscreen on a daily basis. The dermatologic evaluation also revealed that 97.6% of workers had many skin lesions caused by sun exposure. Melanosis was the most common diagnosis.Conclusions: Skin lesions were frequent among community health workers and sun exposure during working hours appears to have played a remarkable role. Workers showed difficulty adopting protective behaviors. Occupational health policies and actions targeted at the prevention of aggravating factors among community health workers should be encouraged.