• 한국산업보건학회지
• /
• 제15권2호
• /
• pp.144-152
• /
• 2005

To evaluate the effect of lead biomarkers including bone lead on neurobehavioral test in lead workers, 652 lead workers without any occupational exposure to organic solvent, mercury and arsenic were agreed to participate this study. For the control subjects 102 non-occupationally lead exposed blue collar workers in general manufacturing industries were also joined this study. All study subjects joined this study with written informed consent. The study variables of lead exposure were blood and patella lead. For the general characteristics of study subjects, standardized questionnaire regarding age, sex, past disease history, job duration, body mass index (BMI), drinking and smoking habit were provided. For the past history of neurotoxicity related diseases, all study subjects were interviewed by qualified occupational health physician. The results obtained were as follows: 1. Compared with controls without occupational lead exposure, lead exposed subjects had worse performance on all tests(p<0.05). 2. After adjustment for covariates (age, sex, job duration, education level, BMI, smoking and drinking status), the signs of the regression coefficients for blood lead were negative for 13 of the 14 tests. Blood lead was a significant predictor of poorer scores on 8 tests (simple reaction time(ms & root MSD), Trail-Making Test B, Digit Symbol Substitution, Purdue Pegboard assembly, Digit Span Test, Benton Visual Retention, and Purdue pegboard both hand). 3. After adjustment for covariates (age, sex, job duration, education level, BMI, smoking and drinking status), the signs of the regression coefficients for patella lead were negative for 12 of the 14 tests. Patella lead was a significant predictor of poorer scores on 8 tests (simple reaction time(ms). Purdue Pegboard assembly, Digit Span Test, Benton Visual Retention. Pursuit Aiming rest (no. of correct & no. of incorrect), Purdue pegboard non-dominant hand and both hand). With above results, blood lead and patella lead were associated with poorer performance of neurobehavioral tests. In addition, patella lead was confirmed to be better predictor of manual dexterity test in neurobehavioral test battery in lead workers

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
• /
• 제28권4호
• /
• pp.875-884
• /
• 1995

In order to investigate the level of lead exposure of workers in litharge making industry and to evaluate how lead exposure, personal habit such as smoking and drinking affect the prevalence of lead related symptoms and other study variables, we investigate 114 workers(24 office workers and 90 lead exposed workers) in a litharge making industry. Study variables chosen were blood lead(PbB), zinc protoporphyrin in whole blood(ZPP), Hemoglobin(Hb), hematocrit (Hct), SGOT and SGPT symptom questionnaires which had 15 lead exposure related symptoms were provided to all workers and filled up by themselves and reconfirmed by physician. The results obtained were as follows; 1. The mean value of PbB, ZPP and SGOT in lead exposed group were higher than those of non-exposed group, and there were no differences of means in other study variables. 2. The smoking and drinking rate of study subjects were 65.8% and 71.0% as a whole. Smoking rates were lower in non-exposed group than exposed group, but drinking rate were not. 3. There were no differences of mean values of study variables between smoker and non-smoker in non-exposed and exposed group, but there was a difference of mean value of SGOT between drinker and lion-drinker in lead exposed group. 4. While the symptom prevalence of lead exposed group were higher in neuromuscular category than non-exposed group, those of non-exposed group were higher or same with exposed group in gastrointestinal and general symptom category. 5. The symptom prevalence of smoker were higher than non-smoker regardless of exposure. 6. The symptom prevalence of drinker were only higher in gastrointestinal symptom category than non-drinker. 7. In multiple stepwise regression analysis of lead related symptoms as dependent variable and blood lead, smoking habit, drinking habit and work duration as independent variables, drinking habit contributed to the gastrointestinal symptom category, whereas blood lead and smoking contributed to the neuromuscular symptom category. For the total symptoms work duration and smoking habit contributed significantly.

• 한국산업보건학회지
• /
• 제29권2호
• /
• pp.195-207
• /
• 2019

Objectives: This study was performed to confirm whether plasma lead can be used as a chronic biomarker for the biological monitoring of exposure to lead. Methods: Lead concentrations in 66 plasma samples from retired lead workers (G.M. 60.25 years, Median 61.00 years) and 42 plasma samples from the general population (G.M. 53.76 years, Median 56.50 years) were measured using ICP/Mass. Tibia, whole blood, hemoglobin, hematocrit, and blood zinc protophorphyrin (ZPP) concentrations and urinary ${\delta}$-aminolevulinic acid (${\delta}-ALA$) were measured for correlation analysis with plasma lead. Results: The geometric mean concentration of lead in plasma was $0.23{\mu}g/L$ for the retired lead workers and $0.10{\mu}g/L$ for the general population sample. A simple correlation analysis of biomarkers showed that plasma lead concentration among the retired lead workers was highly correlated with lead concentration in the tibia and with blood lead concentration, and the plasma lead concentration among the general population correlated with ZPP concentration in the blood. The lead concentration in the tibia and the lead concentration in the whole blood increased with length of working period. As the period in the lead workplace increased, the ratio of lead in plasma to lead concentration in whole blood decreased. Conclusion: This study confirmed the possibility of a chronic biomarker of lead concentration in blood plasma as a biomarker. In the future, comparative studies with specific indicators will lead to more fruitful results.

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
• /
• 제31권4호
• /
• pp.708-718
• /
• 1998

To investigate the effect of smoking and drinking habit on the health status in lead using industries, 2,785 male workers in lead using industries (7 storage battery industries, 7 secondary smelting and related industries, and 4 primary metal and other manufacturing industries) were selected for this study. This study was carried out as a part of periodic health examination. Selected study variables were zinc protoporphyrin in whole blood (ZPP), SGOT and SGPT for laboratory test. Questionnaire for lead related symptoms and smoking and drinking habit was provided to all the workers and filled up by themselves and reconfirmed by physician. The results obtained were as follows; 1. The overall smoking and drinking rate of study population were 69.8% and 73.6%, respectively. While the smoking and drinking rate of storage battery workers were 68.8% and 72.3%, those of secondary smelting industries and other industries were 66.0% & 66.4% and 74.6 & 80.3% respectively. 2. While the mean values of blood ZPP of lead exposed workers were significantly higher than other group, those of SGOT of storage battery workers were significant higher than other worker. But there were no differences of mean values of other variables. 3. Smoking habit did not affect on the mean value of blood ZPP of workers in special health examination group, but there were significant differences of blood ZPP and SGOT between drinker and non-drinker. 4. Symptom prevalence of lead exposure were higher in drinking and smoking group than non-drinking and non-smoking group. 5. In multiple regression analysis of the total lead related symptoms, blood ZPP, SGOT, and SGPT as dependent variable, respectively, and age, work duration, blood ZPP, pack year and amount of alcohol drinking as independent variables, work duration, pack year, amount of alcohol drinking, age contributed to total symptoms; and age, work duration, pack year contributed to blood ZPP; and age, amount of alcohol drinking, work duration contributed to SGOT; and pack year contributed to SGPT.

• 대한임상검사과학회지
• /
• 제41권3호
• /
• pp.105-110
• /
• 2009

Yellow sand (or Asian dust) occurs mainly in spring in East Asia. Yellow sand from China and its surrounding regions transports air pollutants, such as aerosols, ozone, and heavy metals. The outdoor workers are frequently exposed to heavy metals during yellow sand phenomenon. This study was carried out to investigate the heavy metal levels in blood among 75 outdoor workers (exposed group) and 86 indoor workers (controled group) in Gyeonggi province from March 2008 to May 2009. Heavy metal levels in blood were analyzed by atomic absorption spectrophotometer. Mean blood lead levels in exposed group and controled group were $5.19{\pm}1.64{\mu}g/dL$, $4.24{\pm}1.34{\mu}g/dL$, respectively. Mean blood cadmium levels in exposed group and controled group were $1.28{\pm}0.89{\mu}g/dL$, $0.90{\pm}0.59{\mu}g/dL$, respectively. Lead and Cadmium levels in blood of exposed group were significantly higher than those of controled group. In the comparison of smoking status, lead and cadmium levels of smokers were significantly higher than those of non-smokers. In conclusion, the heavy metal levels of outdoor workers were significantly higher than those of indoor workers. And smoking was hazardous factor to elevate heavy metal levels in blood.

• 한국산업보건학회지
• /
• 제16권4호
• /
• pp.324-333
• /
• 2006

This study was designed to investigate the effect of bone demineralization and tibia lead on blood lead in retired lead workers. Two hundred thirty five(126 females and 109 males) retired lead workers who worked in 4 different lead factories and 101 non-occupationally lead exposed subjects(51 females and 51 males) were recruited from March 2004 to October 2004. Bone mineral density(BMD) was measured at left calcaneous bone area by broadband ultrasound attenuation(BUA) method with QUS-2(Metra Biosystems Inc, USA). The BUA value transformed into T-score by WHO standard conversion criteria. Tibia bone lead was measured for skeletal bone lead with K-xray fluorescence(K-XRF) and blood lead was analyzed with flameless atomic spectrophotometer. Hemoglobin, hematocrit, serum calcium and iron were also analyzed. In addition, information for smoking and drinking status and basic personal data such as age, gender and lead exposure were also collected using questionnaire inquiry. Blood lead was correlated with tibia lead (r=0.664) and these two variables were negatively correlated with BMD in bivariate analysis. BMD showed significant main effect on the change of blood lead independent to tibia lead without any effect modification of age or gender; the one T-score unit decrease of mineral bone density made $0.43{\mu}g/dl$ increase of blood lead. On the other hand, tibia lead showed effect modification with gender on blood lead; the slope of tibia lead on blood lead in male was steeper than in female and crossed at around zero of tibia lead. In the multiple regression analysis of blood lead and tibia lead on BMD after adjustment of related covariates, only blood lead showed statistically significant effect on BMD. This study confirmed that BMD and blood lead were significantly associated. To verify the causal association of BMD on blood lead and vice versa, further longitudinal studies are needed.

• 한국산업보건학회지
• /
• 제6권2호
• /
• pp.265-271
• /
• 1996

This study was conducted to investigate distribution of lead particles by operation of industry, to evaluate the effect of particle size on the absorption to workers, and to recommend the Occupational Health Standard for lead. Total lead concentrations in the secondary smelting industry were higher than those in the battery and litharge manufacturing industry. Total lead concentrations in other industries except radiator manufacturing industry exceeded the standard of $50{\mu}g/m^3$. Only radiator manufacturing industry indicated lead concentrations significantly lower than those in other industries(p<0.05). Average blood lead level of workers was $85.1{\mu}g/dl$ in secondary smelting manufacturing, $51.3{\mu}g/dl$ in the battery manufacturing, and below $40{\mu}g/dl$ in the litharge and radiator manufacturing industry. Blood lead levels of workers by industry were significantly different(p<0.05). From relationship between airborne lead concentrations by size and lead in blood, confidence limits of airborne lead concentration equivalent to $40{\mu}g/dl$ of permissible limit in blood, was $147.9-489.8{\mu}g/m^3$ as total lead and $28.8-79.4{\mu}g/m^3$ as ACGIH-RPM. It is recommended that two separate occupational health standards for lead should be established by particle size. Airborne concentration of $150{\mu}g/m^3$ as fatal lead dust and $30{\mu}g/m^3$ as respirable lead dust was recommended.

• Toxicological Research
• /
• 제32권4호
• /
• pp.281-287
• /
• 2016

Earlier studies conducted on lead-exposed workers have determined the reticulocyte count (RC) (%), but the parameters of Absolute Reticulocyte Count (ARC), Reticulocyte Index (RI), and Reticulocyte Production Index (RPI) were not reported. This study assessed the effect of lead (Pb) exposure on the status of reticulocyte count indices in workers occupied in lead battery plants. The present cross-sectional study was carried out on 391 male lead battery workers. The blood lead levels (BLL) were determined by using an Atomic Absorption Spectrophotometer. The RC (%) was estimated by using the supravital staining method. The parameters, such as ARC, RI, and RPI, were calculated by using the RC (%) with the red cell indices (RBC count and hematocrit). The levels of RBC count and hematocrit were determined by using an ABX Micros ES-60 hematology analyzer. The levels of reticulocyte count indices - RC (%), ARC, RI, and RPI significantly increased with elevated BLL. The association between BLL and reticulocyte count indices was positive and significant. The results of linear multiple regression analysis showed that the reticulocyte count (${\beta}=0.212$, P < 0.001), ARC (${\beta}=0.217$, P < 0.001), RI (${\beta}=0.194$, P < 0.001), and RPI (${\beta}=0.208$, P < 0.001) were positively associated with BLL. The variable, smoking habits, showed a significant positive association with reticulocyte count indices: RC (%) (${\beta}=0.188$, P < 0.001), ARC (${\beta}=0.174$, P < 0.001), RI (${\beta}=0.200$, P < 0.001), and RPI (${\beta}=0.151$, P < 0.005). The study results revealed that lead exposure may cause reticulocytosis with an increase of reticulocyte count indices.

• 한국산업보건학회지
• /
• 제20권1호
• /
• pp.19-28
• /
• 2010

This study was designed to investigate the effect of increased blood and tibia lead on the change of bone mineral density in retired male lead workers. One hundred nine retired male lead workers who worked in 4 different lead industries and 51 nonoccupationally lead exposed male subjects were recruited from March 2004 to October 2004. Bone mineral density(BMD) was measured by broadband ultrasound attenuation(BUA) at left calcaneous bone area with broadband ultrasound attenuation method of QUS-2(Metra Biosystems Inc, USA). Tibia bone lead was measured for skeletal bone lead with K-xray fluorescence(K-XRF) and blood lead was analyzed with flameless atomic spectrophotometer. Hemoglobin, hematocrit, serum calcium and iron were also analyzed. In addition, information for smoking and drinking status and basic personal data such as age and lead exposure were also collected using questionnaire inquiry. Blood lead was correlated with tibia lead (r=0.711) and these two variables were negatively correlated with BUA in bivariate analysis. BUA and tibia lead showed significant main effects on the change of blood lead after adjusting covariates. The effect modification by the level of BMD (low: lower than the median of BUA and high: higher than the median of BUA) was observed between the association of tibia lead and blood lead after adjustment of covariates. The subjects who had higher BMD seemed to have lower blood lead by the increase of tibia lead than those of lower BMD. In the multiple regression analysis of blood lead and tibia lead on BUA after adjustment of covariates, only blood lead showed statistically significant effect on BUA. This study confirmed that BMD and blood lead were significantly associated. To verify the causal association of BMD on blood lead and vice versa, further longitudinal studies are needed.

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
• /
• 제26권2호
• /
• pp.251-267
• /
• 1993

연폭로의 정도와 자각증상과의 관계를 알아보기 위하여 435명의 연폭로 남자 근로자와 212명의 일반 사무직 남자 근로자를 대상으로 연폭로 지표가 되는 혈중 연, 혈중 Zinc Protoporphyrin(ZPP), 요중 Delta-aminolevulinic acid(DALA), 혈색소, 혈구 용적 측정을 위한 혈액 시료 및 소변 시료를 채취하여 분석하였고, 연관련 자각증상 조사는 14개의 증상 조사 항목을(표 3 및 별첨 1) 피검자가 응답 하도록하여 상담 의사의 면접을 통한 확인을 거쳐 수집 하였다. 수집된 각 항목은 인체 조직계 증상군별로 1) 위장관계 증상 2) 신경과 근육 및 관절계 증상 3) 일반 체질적 증상 4) 정신과적 증상으로 구분하여 연폭로 지표 수준과 연폭로 작업 여부에 따른 자각증상 호소율을 비교 조사하여 얻은 결론은 다음과 같다. 1. 연폭로군에서 대조군보다 유의하게 높은 자각증상 호소율을 보인 증상군은 신경과 근육 및 관절계 증상으로 "손이나 발이 저리거나 쥐가 잘난다", "관절이 아프거나 쑤신다", "손가락, 손, 발 등에 힘이 없다", "근육통을 느낀다" 순 이었다. 2. 연폭로군과 대조군의 자각증상 호소율에 가장 큰 차이를 보인 증상 항목은 "손이나 발이 저리거나 쥐가 잘 난다"였으며, 전체 조사 대상에서 가장 높은 증상 호소율을 보인 증상 항목은 일반 체질적 자각 증상군의 "전보다 피곤감을 느낀다"였다. 3. 전체 조사 대상의 혈중 연과 혈중 ZPP 수준에 따른 연폭로량의 증가와 자각증상 호소율의 증가를 보인 증상 항목은 신경과 근육 및 관절계 증상군의 "손이나 발이 저리거나 쥐가 잘난다", "관절이 아프거나 쑤신다", "손가락. 손 발 등에 힘이 없다", "근육통을 느낀다"와 위장관계 증상군의 "아랫배가 아파서 고생한 적이 있다"였다. 4 연폭로군에서 혈중 연과 혈중 ZPP 수준에 따른 연폭로량의 증가와 자각증상 호소율의 증가를 보인 증상 항목은 신경과 근육 및 관절계 증상으로 혈중 연의 증가에 따라 증상 호소율이 증가하였다. 5. 연폭로군에서 39세 이하 와 40세 이상 연령군으로 나누어 비교시 39세 이하 군의 증상 호소율이 40세 이상 군보다 높게 나왔으며. 신경과 근육 및 관절계 증상이 39세이하 군에서 혈중 연의 증가와 함께, 40세 이상 군에서 혈중 ZPP의 증가와 함께 자각증상 호소율의 증가를 나타냈다. 6. 연폭로 지표에 따른 폭로수준과 증상 호소율과의 관계를 알아보기 위하여 대조군에 대한 폭로군, 연폭로군의 저농도 폭로군에 대한 고농도 폭로군의 교차비를 산출한 결과 신경과 근육 및 관절계 증상군의 "손이나 발이 저리거나 쥐가 잘난다", "관절이 아프거나 쑤신다", "손가락, 손, 발 등에 힘이 없다", "근육통을 느낀다"와 위장관계 증상군의 "아랫배가 아파서 고생한 적이 있다"가 연폭로량의 증가에 따른 교차비의 증가를 보여 양-반응의 관계를 추정할 수 있었다.