ABSTRACT
This study was performed to see whether neurobehavioral tests was affected by the exposure-free time in the workers chronically exposed to organic solvents. Thirty-four female workers were participated and four items among neurobehavioral core test battery of World Health Organization, including digit span, Santa Ana Dexterity, digit symbol, Benton Visual Retention, were administered to the workers. Test was conducted three times-preshift on Monday, preshift on Weekday and during shift on Weekday-per person and the interval of tests was 2 weeks. Digit span forward, Santa Ana Dexterity, digit symbol, and Benton Visual Retention showed significant decrements by performing time, especially during shift on Weekday versus preshift on Monday and preshift on Weekday. In addition, the score at preshift on Weekday was significantly lower than preshift on Monday, in preferred Santa Ana Dexterity and digit symbol. Generally, those who were exposed to high concentration, over 50 years and under 6 years of education showed marked decrease of score at during shift. So, it would be desirable that neurobehavioral test is conducted at preshift on Monday and items related to short term memory could be considerable to be done at preshift on Weekday.
Subject(s)
Female , Humans , Education , Memory , Solvents , World Health OrganizationABSTRACT
The association between blood lead children and Intelligent Quotient(IQ) was investigated in a sample of l00 boys and girls aged 6-8 years from one primary school within an industrial area of Pusan. The trained undergraduates in school of public health administered an I.Q. test one by one. Parents answered a questionnaire on demographic, perinatal and socioeconomic variables. Atomic Absorbtion spectrophotometer was used to determine blood lead levels. The geometric mean of blood lead value was 7.99 microgram/dl. In total children, there was no significant relationship between blood lead level and I.Q. But in the children who were born of gestational age of less than 38 weeks, children with higher levels of blood lead performed more poorly on I.Q. test with correlation coefficient from -0.68 to -0.71. But, the children who were born of gestational age of 38 weeks and more were same as total children. These results suggest that exposure to low levels of lead in the children who were born premature probably may result in impaired intelligent development. But, we think that more profound study should be performed with sufficient numbers of subjects.
Subject(s)
Child , Female , Humans , Gestational Age , Intelligence , Parents , Public Health , Surveys and QuestionnairesABSTRACT
A cross sectional study was performed to evaluate the neurobehavioral effects of chronic exposure of complex organic solvents, using NCTB(Neurobehavioral Core Test Battery) recommended by WHO(World Health organization). Forty female shoe factory workers and twenty-two controls matched with age were participated. The tests were performed in the morning before start of work, to exclude the effects of acute exposure. Workers were exposed mainly to toluene, methyl ethyl ketone, n-hexane, cyclo-hexane, dichloroethylene, trichloroethylene, benzene, xylenes etc. The ranges of present solvent exposure of hygienic effect were 0.46~0.71 in the process using adhesives indirectly, and 1.83-2.39 in the process using it directly. We reclassified the subjects, according to cumulative exposure. It showed significantly poorer performances in high exposed group on Santa Ana Dexterity and Benton visual Retention, compared with control group. After controlling confounder, the significances were still remained. But, further cohort studies, having the information of personal exposure dose from entering a factory, are required to clarify the effects of chronic exposure of complex organic solvents in relation to dose and duration of exposure.
Subject(s)
Female , Humans , Adhesives , Benzene , Cohort Studies , Shoes , Solvents , Toluene , Trichloroethylene , XylenesABSTRACT
No abstract available.
ABSTRACT
The authors conducted this study to evaluate some differences in blood lead levels between inner-city and suburban children and obtain the basic data of the reference value of the blood lead concentrations in children. The subjects were composed of 102 children residing in inner-city and 86 children in suburban. Their age range were 6 to 8 years old and the obtained results were as follow; 1. The arithmetic means of the blood lead level in male and fenlale, male, and female children were 7.24, 7,40, 7.08 microgram/100ml, and geometric means were 6.92, 7.08, 6.76 microgram/100ml, respectively. 2. The children residing in inner-city had the higher blood lead levels both male and female than suburban children with statistical signficance (p or = 10 microgram/100ml group, the inner-city children (20.39 %) were more distributed than suburban chilren(2.33 %) , and 12.33 % of total subjects had this lead values.