Esser André, Schettgen Thomas, Kraus Thomas
Institute for Occupational, Social and Environmental Medicine, RWTH Aachen University, Aachen, Germany.
J Toxicol Environ Health A. 2020 Mar 18;83(6):219-232. doi: 10.1080/15287394.2020.1742261. Epub 2020 Apr 6.
Polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) were used in technical mixtures of different PCB congeners as hydraulic fluids in underground mining in Germany in North Rhine-Westphalia, Ibbenbueren, and Saarland from the mid-1960s to 1986. Mine workers who were involved in maintenance and repair or operation of hydraulically driven machines in underground mines were potentially exposed to liquids containing PCBs. The aim of the present study was to investigate whether this potential exposure which occurred more than 30 years ago was still detectable. Biomonitoring and a structured work anamnesis were conducted on a representative sample of 210 miners. PCBs in plasma were measured by gas chromatography coupled to mass spectrometry with an LOQ of 0.01 µg/L plasma for all congeners. The primary aim was comparison of the number of exceedances of the underlying comparative values for PCB congeners with those of the general population. Secondary endpoint was the question whether there were regional differences in potential PCB exposure. The biomonitoring showed a significant difference for PCB 74 with N= 94 (45%); for PCB 114 with N = 64 (31%) and for PCB 99 and PCB 105 with N = 23 (11%) and N = 19 (9%) of 210 measurements above the reference value compared to the general population (5%). The all over detection frequencies (µg/L plasma median | SD | min |max) of these congeners were as follows:PCB 74: 0.128 | 0.481 | < LOD | 3.098; PCB 99:0.035 | 0.078 | < LOD | 0.582PCB 105: 0.005 | 0.031 | < LOD | 0.307; PCB 114:0.005 | 0.024 | < LOD | 0.140Regional differences were not detectable.
从20世纪60年代中期到1986年，德国北莱茵-威斯特法伦州的伊本比伦和萨尔州在地下采矿中使用了含有不同多氯联苯（PCB）同系物的工业混合物作为液压油。参与地下矿井液压驱动机器维护、修理或操作的矿工有可能接触到含有多氯联苯的液体。本研究的目的是调查30多年前发生的这种潜在接触是否仍可检测到。对210名矿工的代表性样本进行了生物监测和结构化工作问诊。采用气相色谱-质谱联用仪测定血浆中的多氯联苯，所有同系物的定量下限为0.01μg/L血浆。主要目的是比较多氯联苯同系物超过相应对照值的数量与一般人群的数量。次要终点是潜在多氯联苯接触是否存在区域差异的问题。生物监测显示，与一般人群（5%）相比，在210次测量中，多氯联苯74有94例（45%）、多氯联苯114有64例（31%）、多氯联苯99有23例（11%）、多氯联苯105有19例（9%）超过参考值。这些同系物的总体检测频率（μg/L血浆中位数|标准差|最小值|最大值）如下：多氯联苯74：0.128|0.481|<检测限|3.098；多氯联苯99：0.035|0.078|<检测限|0.582；多氯联苯105：0.005|0.031|<检测限|0.307；多氯联苯114：0.005|0.024|<检测限|0.140。未检测到区域差异。
