Chen Mei-Lien, Chen Shu-Hui, Guo Bey-Rong, Mao I-Fang
Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, College of Medicine, National Yang-Ming University, Taipei, Taiwan.
J Environ Monit. 2002 Aug;4(4):562-6. doi: 10.1039/b203754h.
This study evaluated the relationship between the breath concentrations of, and personal exposure to, toluene, xylene and ethylbenzene of thirty workers from ten gasoline stations. Personal exposure air samples and workplace samples were collected simultaneously. Each subject provided a sample of exhaled breath after his or her personal exposure air was sampled. Twenty-five personal air, 17 workplace and 30 breath samples were collected in this study. Results indicated that breath concentrations of toluene and xylene were significantly correlated with personal monitoring concentrations. Furthermore, multiple regression analysis showed that exhaled toluene levels were highly influenced by personal toluene concentrations and the amount of personal gasoline sold (r2 = 0.762), while exhaled xylene levels depended on wind speed and personal xylene exposure concentrations (r2 = 0.665). Exhaled ethylbenzene levels were too low to present a relationship between concentrations and personal exposure levels. The exhaled toluene, xylene and ethylbenzene concentrations ranged from 4.3 to 41.8, 0.9 to 13.9, and 0.2 to 6.5 ppb, and the corresponding personal monitoring concentrations ranged from 60.3 to 572.3, 16.4 to 156.6, and 10.7 to 136.6, respectively. The average number of symptoms per person, according to neurotoxic questionnaire 16 (abbreviated as Q16) was 4.1 and six workers showed over six symptoms in Q16. This study suggests that exhaled toluene and xylene levels are suitable for use as biological exposure indices even at the ppb-level of exposure. Gasoline service workers are exposed to high levels of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and the potential threats to their neurological systems deserve further investigation.
本研究评估了来自10个加油站的30名工人呼出气体中甲苯、二甲苯和乙苯的浓度与个人暴露水平之间的关系。同时采集了个人暴露空气样本和工作场所样本。在每个受试者的个人暴露空气采样后，收集其呼出气体样本。本研究共收集了25份个人空气样本、17份工作场所样本和30份呼出气体样本。结果表明，呼出气体中甲苯和二甲苯的浓度与个人监测浓度显著相关。此外，多元回归分析显示，呼出的甲苯水平受个人甲苯浓度和个人销售汽油量的高度影响（r2 = 0.762），而呼出的二甲苯水平取决于风速和个人二甲苯暴露浓度（r2 = 0.665）。呼出的乙苯水平过低，无法呈现出浓度与个人暴露水平之间的关系。呼出的甲苯、二甲苯和乙苯浓度范围分别为4.3至41.8 ppb、0.9至13.9 ppb和0.2至6.5 ppb，相应的个人监测浓度范围分别为60.3至572.3、16.4至156.6和10.7至136.6。根据神经毒性问卷16（简称为Q16），每人的平均症状数为4.1，6名工人在Q16中表现出超过6种症状。本研究表明，即使在ppb级暴露水平下，呼出的甲苯和二甲苯水平也适合用作生物暴露指标。汽油服务工人暴露于高水平的挥发性有机化合物（VOCs）中，其神经系统面临的潜在威胁值得进一步研究。
