Comparison of Performance from Three Continents on the WHO-Recommended Neurobehavioral Core Test Battery

Anger, W. Kent; Cassitto, Maria Grazia; Liang, Yupei; Amador, Rafael; Hooisma, J.; Chrislip, David W.; Mergler, Donna; Keifer, Matt; Hortnagl, J.; Fournier, Lara; Dudek, Bohdan; ZSögön, E.

doi:10.1006/enrs.1993.1097

Cited by 81 publications

(16 citation statements)

References 7 publications

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“…The form was translated into Cantonese based on the simple Chinese version, which had been used in China widely and proven to be of good validity. 25 Before we used the Cantonese version in the field, the form were checked by 2 native Cantonese speakers and tested in another 2 Cantonese speakers to make sure that the description in Cantonese is appropriate and understandable.…”

Section: Neurobehavioral Testsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Neurobehavioral Effects of Occupational Exposure to Organic Solvents Among Male Printing Workers in Hong Kong

Song¹,

Yu²,

Lao³

2013

Archives of Environmental & Occupational Health

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The objective of this study was to investigate the neurobehavioral effects of long-term occupational exposure to low levels of organic solvent among male printing workers in Hong Kong. A total of 115 printing workers exposed to organic solvents were recruited from the printing divisions of 3 printing factories, and 101 workers from the binding divisions of the same factories constituted the comparison group. Active and passive samplings were used to assess the occupational exposures to solvents. The World Health Organization Neurobehavioral Core Test Battery (WHO-NCTB) was applied to assess the neurobehavioral functions. Both active and passive sampling results showed that solvent levels were higher in the printing divisions than the binding divisions. The scores of Digit Symbol and Pursuit Aiming were poorer among workers in the printing divisions (all p values < .05). There were no significant differences found between the 2 divisions for other WHO-NCTB tests. The scores of Digit Symbol and Pursuit Aiming showed exposure-response relationship with various solvent exposure indices. Prolonged occupational exposure to low levels of organic solvents was associated with adverse neurobehavioral effects among male printing workers in Hong Kong.

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Section: Neurobehavioral Testsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Neurobehavioral Effects of Occupational Exposure to Organic Solvents Among Male Printing Workers in Hong Kong

Song¹,

Yu²,

Lao³

2013

Archives of Environmental & Occupational Health

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“…The scores on the tests in this study are lower when compared to scores reported in many other countries. [25][26][27] Figure 2 presents data from unexposed controls in these studies. A major concern when performance is low is that control performance may be so near the performance "floor" that true pesticide related differences could not be detected.…”

Section: Comparison With Previous Researchmentioning

confidence: 99%

Neurobehavioural effects among workers occupationally exposed to organophosphorous pesticides

2003

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Aims: To identify neurobehavioural deficits among workers exposed to organophosphorous (OP) pesticides in their occupation. Methods: This study was conducted during the period when pesticides were applied to cotton crops in the fields in Menoufiya Governorate, Egypt. Fifty two occupationally exposed male workers were compared to 50 unexposed male controls who were similar in age, socioeconomic class, and years of education (>12 years). All participants completed a questionnaire (assessing personal, occupational, and medical histories), general and neurological clinical examination, neurobehavioural test battery (including tests for verbal abstraction, problem solving, attention, memory, and visuomotor speed), personality assessment, and serological analysis for serum acetylcholinesterase. Results: After correcting for confounders of age and education, the exposed participants exhibited significantly lower performance than controls on six neurobehavioural tests (Similarities, Digit Symbol, Trailmaking part A and B, Letter Cancellation, Digit Span, and Benton Visual Retention). A longer duration of work with pesticides was associated with lower performance on most neurobehavioural tests after adjusting for multiple comparisons. Although serum acetylcholinesterase was significantly lower in the exposed than the control participants, it was not significantly correlated with either neurobehavioural performance or neurological abnormalities. Conclusions: Occupational exposure to OP pesticides was associated with deficits in a wider array of neurobehavioural functions than previously reported, perhaps because of higher exposure in this population. Moderate chronic OP exposure may not only affect visuomotor speed as reported previously, but also verbal abstraction, attention, and memory.

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“…Low exposure to lead seems to affect a broad range of psychological functions, including mood, 1 13 Long term follow up of workers has been attempted less often-2 21014 and suggests that psychological function deteriorates with continued exposure,'0 but recovers after the end of exposure.1 To correct the lack of standardization in neurobehavioural assessment, the World Health Organisation (WHO) neurobehavioural core test battery (NCTB)19 has been advocated as a validated, standardized psychological test battery that has been reported to be transcultural. 20 The purpose of this investigation was to apply the NCTB to confirm whether effects reported in the European and North American scientific literature were also occurring in a population of Venezuelan workers exposed to lead. A specific aim was to explore indices of exposure based on blood lead concentration to determine which were sensitive predictors of altered neurobehavioural function.…”

mentioning

confidence: 91%

Neurobehavioural evaluation of Venezuelan workers exposed to inorganic lead.

1995

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Objectives-To assess neurobehavioural effects of low exposure to lead, 43 workers from a lead smelter and 45 workers from a glass factory were evaluated with the World Health Organisation neurobehavioural core test battery (NCTB) in a cross sectional study. Methods-The NCTB comprises a questionnaire and seven tests that measure simple reaction time, short term memory (digit span, Benton), mood (profile of mood states), eye-hand coordination (Santa Ana pegboard, pursuit aiming II), and perceptual speed (digit-symbol). Results-Smelter workers were employed on average for four years, and had a mean blood lead concentration of 2'0 cumolll (42 ug/dl). Glass factory workers had a mean of 0*72 umoill (15 ugldl). Historical blood lead concentrations were used to classify exposure based on current, peak, and time weighted average. Although the exposed workers performed less well than the non-exposed in 10 of 14 response variables, only profile of mood states tension-anxiety, hostility, and depression mood scales showed a significantly poorer dose-response relation with blood lead concentration in multiple linear regression models that included age, education, and alcohol intake as covariates. The frequency of symptoms of anger, depression, fatigue, and joint pain were also significantly increased in the exposed group. Conclusion-This study is consistent with the larger body of neurobehavioural research of low occupational exposure to lead. The small effects found in this study occurred at blood lead concentrations slightly lower than those reported in several previous studies.

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Comparison of Performance from Three Continents on the WHO-Recommended Neurobehavioral Core Test Battery

Cited by 81 publications

References 7 publications

Neurobehavioral Effects of Occupational Exposure to Organic Solvents Among Male Printing Workers in Hong Kong

Neurobehavioral Effects of Occupational Exposure to Organic Solvents Among Male Printing Workers in Hong Kong

Neurobehavioural effects among workers occupationally exposed to organophosphorous pesticides

Neurobehavioural evaluation of Venezuelan workers exposed to inorganic lead.

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