Neurobehavioral changes of shipyard painters exposed to mixed organic solvents

Lee, CR; Jeong, KS; Kim, Y; Yoo, CI; Lee, JH; Choi, YH

HERO ID

1065703

Reference Type

Journal Article

Year

2005

Language

English

PMID

15895847

HERO ID 1065703
In Press No
Year 2005
Title Neurobehavioral changes of shipyard painters exposed to mixed organic solvents
Authors Lee, CR; Jeong, KS; Kim, Y; Yoo, CI; Lee, JH; Choi, YH
Journal Industrial Health
Volume 43
Issue 2
Page Numbers 320-326
Abstract This study was conducted to evaluate neurobehavioral changes arising from occupational exposure to organic solvents among shipyard painters and to establish whether a dose-effect relation existed where there was any observed impairment of neurobehavioral performance by running the test of Simple Reaction Time (SRT), Symbol Digit Substitution (SD), and Finger Tapping Speed (FT) with a computer-assisted neurobehavioral test battery. The study group consisted of 180 shipyard painters and 60 reference workers. The workers answered a self-administered questionnaire on occupational, medical history, and demographic characteristics including age, work duration, education level, and quantity and frequency of alcohol and smoking, and performed three psychometric tests on the Korean Computerized Neurobehavioral tests. To estimate cumulative exposure level, samples of ambient air on 61 painters were analyzed using a gas chromatograph. Shipyard painters and the reference group showed significant differences in the results of test of SD, FT of dominant hand, and FT of non-dominant hand. The test results of SD of shipyard painters also showed significant difference by duration of work. This suggests that occupational exposure of organic solvent could induce neurobehavioral changes in the shipyard painters. Therefore an objective neurobehavioral tests recommended on evaluating neurobehavioral performance of long-term solvent-exposed shipyard workers.
Doi 10.2486/indhealth.43.320
Pmid 15895847
Is Certified Translation No
Dupe Override No
Is Public Yes
Language Text English
Is Qa No