Oner Ferda, Mungan Dilşad, Numanoglu Numan, Demirel Yavuz
Department of Pulmonary Disease, Ankara University Medical School, Ankara, Turkey.
Respiration. 2004 Jul-Aug;71(4):336-41. doi: 10.1159/000079636.
Styrene, a volatile monomer, has been reported as a cause of occupational asthma in a few case reports.
The aim of this study was to investigate the risk for asthma in relation to exposure to styrene in a large number of workers.
A total of 47 workers with a history of exposure to styrene were included in the study. To establish whether asthma was present, each patient underwent a clinical interview, pulmonary function testing and bronchial challenge with methacholine. Specific bronchial challenges with styrene and serial peak expiratory flow (PEF) measurement at home and at work were carried out in subjects with a diagnosis of asthma to evaluate the relationship between their asthma and exposure to styrene in the workplace.
Among the 47 subjects, 5 workers had given a history of work-related symptoms, and 3 of them had a positive methacholine challenge test. Specific bronchial challenges with styrene and serial PEF measurement were subsequently carried out in these 3 subjects. Although provocation tests with styrene were negative in the 3 workers, 1 worker had PEF rate records compatible with occupational asthma.
We established one patient with occupational asthma from a group of people who have excessive styrene exposure. This finding may be suggestive but is not conclusive about the causative role of styrene in occupational asthma. Since styrene is a frequently used substance in the furniture industry, it is worth performing further studies to investigate the relationship between styrene and occupational asthma.
苯乙烯是一种挥发性单体，在一些病例报告中已被报道为职业性哮喘的病因。
本研究的目的是调查大量接触苯乙烯的工人患哮喘的风险。
共有47名有苯乙烯接触史的工人纳入本研究。为确定是否存在哮喘，每位患者均接受了临床访谈、肺功能测试及乙酰甲胆碱支气管激发试验。对诊断为哮喘的受试者进行苯乙烯特异性支气管激发试验及在家和工作场所的连续呼气峰值流速（PEF）测量，以评估其哮喘与工作场所苯乙烯接触之间的关系。
在47名受试者中，5名工人有与工作相关症状的病史，其中3名乙酰甲胆碱激发试验呈阳性。随后对这3名受试者进行了苯乙烯特异性支气管激发试验及连续PEF测量。尽管这3名工人的苯乙烯激发试验均为阴性，但有1名工人的PEF率记录符合职业性哮喘。
我们从一组苯乙烯接触过量的人群中确诊了1例职业性哮喘患者。这一发现可能具有提示意义，但关于苯乙烯在职业性哮喘中的致病作用尚无定论。由于苯乙烯是家具行业常用的物质，因此有必要进一步研究以调查苯乙烯与职业性哮喘之间的关系。
