Longitudinal Study to Explore Chronic Neuropsychologic Effects on Solvent Exposed Workers

Abstract

Aim: The aim of the study was to examine possible neurotoxic effects on the central nervous system (CNS) in relation to a chronic solvent exposure at the workplace. Method: The collective included 127 workers exposed to solvent mixtures, such as spray painters and printers. They were examined twice by means of a physical examination, neuropsychological testbattery, biological and air monitoring. Results: Major component of the solvents were white spirits in concentrations up to 127 ppm in air and 2,666 µg/l in blood. Single substances were mainly toluene and xylenes in concentrations below current threshold values at the workplace. During the 2 yr interval, the concentrations of solvents decreased, and no significant associations between the neuropsychological tests and the solvent exposure were found. Regarding the whole working history of each participant, we found a significant reduction on information processing velocity and performance in the trailmaking test, as well as more complaints of workers with higher solvent exposure in the past. Conclusions: A slight increase of subjective complaints and a deteriorated power of concentration seems to be associated with chronic solvent exposure.

Organic Solvent Use in Enterprises in Japan

“…Literature retrieval gave 7 publications in the past 10 years ( Table 7). Some of them were case reports [23][24][25] or compilations of cases 26,27) , and others were from field surveys [28][29][30] . Compilation of solvent names reported in these articles clearly suggests that toluene is the leading solvent involved (Table 7).…”

Field survey on types of organic solvents used in enterprises of various sizes

“…Accordingly, health effects due to occupational solvent exposure are a focus of continuous attention. Whereas the health effects are typically on the central nervous system (Lee et al 1988;Liu et al 1988;Edling 1990;Cai et al 1991;Houck et al 1992;Uchida et al 1993;Ukai et al 1993;Nelson et al 1994;Ihrig et al 2005), effects on the liver (e.g., Fleming et al 1990), the kidneys (e.g., Franchini et al 1983;Ana-Lilia et al 2005;Voss et al 2005) and the peripheral nervous system (Inoue et al 1970;Cianchetti et al 1976;Takeuchi 1993) were also described, and even insidious effects on the reproductive functions (Huel et al 1990) as well as carcinogenicity (Chen and Seaton 1996) other than wellknown benzene-associated leukemia (Aksoy 1985) are suspected. One of the problems in the analysis for causative factors is variety of solvents used in workplaces.…”

Evaluation of neuropsychological symptoms and exposure to benzene, toluene and xylene among two different furniture worker groups in Izmir

“…Xylene, benzene, toluene occupational exposure may lead to various psychological and neurological disorders (Sadik et al, 2003;Yu et al, 2004;Ihrig et al, 2005;Lee et al, 2005). At low or moderate concentrations in air, organic solvents may cause transient symptoms such as euphoria, headache, and vertigo.…”