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. 2010 Jan 4:10:5.
doi: 10.1186/1471-2458-10-5.

Long-term follow-up of beryllium sensitized workers from a single employer

Mona Duggal  1 , David C Deubner, Anne M Curtis, Mark R Cullen
Affiliations

Long-term follow-up of beryllium sensitized workers from a single employer

Mona Duggal et al. BMC Public Health. .

Abstract

Background: Up to 12% of beryllium-exposed American workers would test positive on beryllium lymphocyte proliferation test (BeLPT) screening, but the implications of sensitization remain uncertain.

Methods: Seventy two current and former employees of a beryllium manufacturer, including 22 with pathologic changes of chronic beryllium disease (CBD), and 50 without, with a confirmed positive test were followed-up for 7.4 +/-3.1 years.

Results: Beyond predicted effects of aging, flow rates and lung volumes changed little from baseline, while DLCO dropped 17.4% of predicted on average. Despite this group decline, only 8 subjects (11.1%) demonstrated physiologic or radiologic abnormalities typical of CBD. Other than baseline status, no clinical or laboratory feature distinguished those who clinically manifested CBD at follow-up from those who did not.

Conclusions: The clinical outlook remains favorable for beryllium-sensitized individuals over the first 5-12 years. However, declines in DLCO may presage further and more serious clinical manifestations in the future. These conclusions are tempered by the possibility of selection bias and other study limitations.

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Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Cohort Recruitment Schema.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Difference in DLCO percent predicted (Crapo) between baseline and follow-up visits versus time between examinations. Linear regression lines are depicted for the entire group and each of the subgroups based on baseline lung evaluation.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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