The Relationship between the Occupational Exposure of Trichloroethylene and Kidney Cancer

Trichloroethylene (TCE) has been widely used as a degreasing agent in many manufacturing industries. Recently, the International Agency for Research on Cancer presented "sufficient evidence" for the causal relationship between TCE and kidney cancer. The aim of this study was to review the epidemiologic evidences regarding the relationship between TCE exposure and kidney cancer in Korean work environments. The results from the cohort studies were inconsistent, but according to the meta-analysis and case-control studies, an increased risk for kidney cancer was present in the exposure group and the dose-response relationship could be identified using various measures of exposure. In Korea, TCE is a commonly used chemical for cleaning or degreasing processes by various manufacturers; average exposure levels of TCE vary widely. When occupational physicians evaluate work-relatedness kidney cancers, they must consider past exposure levels, which could be very high (>100 ppm in some cases) and associated with jobs, such as plating, cleaning, or degreasing. The exposure levels at a manual job could be higher than an automated job. The peak level of TCE could also be considered an important exposure-related variable due to the possibility of carcinogenesis associated with high TCE doses. This review could be a comprehensive reference for assessing work-related TCE exposure and kidney cancer in Korea.

Respiratory Symptoms and Ventilatory Function Impairment of Taxi Drivers / 대한산업의학회지

The prevalence of respiratory symptoms and impairments of ventilatory capacity were studied in a group of 74 taxi drivers in Inchon area. As a reference group, 94 office workers of same area, matched with cigarette smoking, were also included in this study. Taxi drivers complained of respiratory symptoms much more than reference group. Those were cough, sputum production, chest tightness and shortness of breath. The ventilatory capacities, FVC (forced vital capacity), FEV(1.0) (forced expiratory volume 1 second), MMF (maximal mid flow) and PFR (peak flow rate), were measured. All measured values of ventilatory capacities of taxi driver were significantly decreased than those of reference group. The rate (56.8%) of ventilatory capacity impairment in taxi drivers was significantly larger than those (14.9%) of reference group, and the most of them were restrictive type impairments. Also, Job variable, prefessional driver or not, was selected as important determinant for ventilatory capacity impairment.