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. 2020 Mar 25;17(7):2199.
doi: 10.3390/ijerph17072199.

Environmental Monitoring of PAHs Exposure, Biomarkers and Vital Status in Coke Oven Workers

Luigi Vimercati  1 , Lucia Bisceglia  2 , Domenica Cavone  1 , Antonio Caputi  1 , Luigi De Maria  1 , Maria Celeste Delfino  1 , Vincenzo Corrado  1 , Giovanni Maria Ferri  1
Affiliations

Environmental Monitoring of PAHs Exposure, Biomarkers and Vital Status in Coke Oven Workers

Luigi Vimercati et al. Int J Environ Res Public Health. .

Abstract

A follow-up study of a cohort of workers from a coke plant compared with a control group from the same industrial area was conducted in 2019. The recruitment and environmental and biomarker measurements were performed during 1993/1994. The environmental concentrations of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH), B(a)P, pyrene and nitro-PAH were measured. Personal data were collected via an individual semi-structured questionnaire by a trained physician. All biomarkers were measured after a specific blood drawing for every test. Significant risks (ORs) were observed for nitro-PAH (≥0.12 µg/m3) [OR = 7.96 (1.01-62.82)], urinary 1-hydroxypyrene (1-OHpy) (≥0.99 µmoles/moles of creatinine) [OR = 11.71 (1.47-92.90)], PAH DNA adducts (P32) (≥2.69 adducts/108 nucleotides) [OR = 5.46 (1.17-25.58)], total nitro-PAH hemoglobin adducts (≥161.68 fg/µg of Hb) [OR = 5.92 (1.26-27.86)], sister chromatid exchange (SCE) with TCR (≥377.84 SCE/cell chromosomes) [OR = 13.06 (3.95-93.10)], sister chromatid exchange with T (≥394.72 total SCE) [OR = 13.06 (3.95-93.10)], and sister chromatid exchange with X (≥8.19 mean SCE) [OR = 13.06 (3.95-93.10)]. Significant risk of death for all causes and chromosomal aberrations (48 h) (OR = 7.19 [1.19-43.44]) or micronuclei in culture at 48 h (OR = 3.86 [1.04-14.38]) were also found.

Keywords: biomarkers; cohort; coke plant; occupational exposure; sister chromatid exchange; total nitro-PAH hemoglobin adducts; urinary 1-hydroxypyrene (1-OHpy), PAH DNA adducts; vital status.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Correlation matrix of ln transformed variables.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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