Air Pollution and Sex Hormone Levels among Mechanics in Brazzaville (Republic of Congo)

Abstract

Air pollution is today a real concern across the world, responsible for around 7 million deaths per year around the world. It is currently involved in the appearance and worsening of several non-transmissible pathologies, making it an environmental, health, and societal problem. The objective of this work was to evaluate the effects of short-term exposure to air pollution on the level of sex hormones in mechanics. We conducted a cross-sectional, analytical, prospective case-control study in Brazzaville on 228 patients (76 cases and 152 controls) from June 2020 to December 2022, a period of 30 months. This study made it possible to evaluate, on the one hand, the level of sexual hormones in men exposed to automobile pollution according to the automated method (ELFA) on mini vidas and, on the other hand, the quality of the air by a colorimetric, punctual method on a Dräger tube coupled with a Dräger accuro pump. The results obtained made it possible to establish a statistically significant link between automobile pollutants (CO, CO 2 , NO 2 , SO 2 ) and the increase in LH and FSH on the one hand and the decrease in testosterone on the other hand. We also noted that the concentrations of automotive pollutants during this study were all above the standards required by the WHO. Exposure to automobile pollutants affects the hypothalamic-pituitary axis and therefore disrupts the level of sex hormones.