A Study of Sister Chromatid Exchange and Somatic Cell Mutation in Hospital Workers Exposed to Ethylene Oxide

Abstract

To investigate the risks of exposure to ethylene oxide (EO) at current permissible levels and at past higher levels, an inception cohort of sterilizer operators and supervisors from the Central Processing Department (CPD), respiratory therapists, and engineers exposed to EO were identified at the McMaster University Medical Centre. A comparison group from Nutrition Services (NUTR) were matched with the CPD workers on the basis of sex, age, and smoking habit. The present report is based on genetic test results for the 94 CPD and matched NUTR workers only. Statistical analysis based on the mean SCE frequency in the top 5, top 10, and all cells (50 cells scored per individual) and high frequency cells (HFC) based on the 95th percentile for nonsmoking control subjects showed a direct association with current smoking but not with EO exposure. Similarly, statistical analysis of the somatic cell mutation (SCMT) variant frequencies did not demonstrate an association with EO exposure, nor with smoking. Regression analysis indicated that sex was the only other covariate that significantly affected SCE. Age was weakly associated with SCMT. A statistically significant interaction between occupational exposure and smoking habits was observed only for the mean SCE frequency of the top 5 and top 10 cells when the 11 current CPD/NUTR pairs were not included. Thus, this interaction should be interpreted with caution.

Occupational risk in health care and research

“…Yet, studies mostly concern cytogenetic effects evaluated following accidental exposures [Laurent, 1988;Perera et al, 1992;Tomkins et al, 1993], with a few evaluations on chronic low-level exposure [Mayer et al, 1991;Major et al, 1999;Shaham et al, 2000;Thier and Bolt, 2000]. Epidemiologic studies are limited, with conflicting results on morbidity and mortality, as well as difficult to interpret since the exposures are sometimes not specific (Table V).…”

Sister chromatid exchanges and ion release in patients wearing fracture fixation devices

“…If an individual had >10 HFC, that individual was considered abnormal. 14 The limits of reproducibility of the method were assessed during its standardization. Both slide preparation and scoring were considered sources of error.…”