Kim Jeongyoun, Park Hyesook, Ha Eunhee, Jung Taejin, Paik Namwon, Yang Seungleem
Department of Preventive Medicine, College of Medicine, Ewha Womans University, 911-1, Mok-6-dong, Yangcheon-ku, Seoul 158-060, Korea.
Ind Health. 2005 Jul;43(3):567-73. doi: 10.2486/indhealth.43.567.
This study aims to evaluate the effect of occupational exposure to noise and organic solvents on hearing loss in the aviation industry. The study population comprised 542 male workers, who worked in avionics jobs in Kimhae, Korea, who kept records of work environment evaluations and medical examinations. The Cumulative Exposure Index (CEI) was constructed to assess the lifetime cumulative exposure of the workers, and pure tone audiometry (PTA) data of the workers from their biannual medical surveillance was used to assess hearing loss. The prevalence of hearing loss found in the group exposed to noise and mixed solvents simultaneously (54.9%) was higher than those in the other groups (6.0% in the unexposed, 17.1% in the noise-only, and 27.8 % in the exposed to only a solvents mixture). The relative risks, adjusted for age, were estimated to be 4.3 (95 % CI 1.7-10.8) for the noise-only group, 8.1 (95% CI 2.0-32.5) for the noise and solvents group, and 2.6 (95 % CI 0.6-10.3) for the solvents-mixture group. These suggest that chronic exposure to mixed solvents had a toxic effect on the auditory system. This raises the issue of whether hearing conservation regulations should be applied to all workers exposed to solvents.
本研究旨在评估航空业中职业性接触噪声和有机溶剂对听力损失的影响。研究对象包括542名男性工人，他们在韩国金海从事航空电子工作，这些工人保留了工作环境评估和医学检查记录。构建累积暴露指数（CEI）以评估工人的终生累积暴露情况，并使用工人每半年一次医学监测中的纯音听力测定（PTA）数据来评估听力损失。同时暴露于噪声和混合溶剂的组中发现的听力损失患病率（54.9%）高于其他组（未暴露组为6.0%，仅暴露于噪声组为17.1%，仅暴露于溶剂混合物组为27.8%）。经年龄调整后的相对风险估计为：仅暴露于噪声组为4.3（95%可信区间1.7 - 10.8），暴露于噪声和溶剂组为8.1（95%可信区间2.0 - 32.5），暴露于溶剂混合物组为2.6（95%可信区间0.6 - 10.3）。这些结果表明，长期接触混合溶剂对听觉系统具有毒性作用。这就引发了听力保护法规是否应适用于所有接触溶剂工人的问题。
