Finnish Institute of Occupational Health, Helsinki, Finland.
Finnish Institute of Occupational Health, Helsinki, Finland.
Environ Res. 2022 Mar;204(Pt A):111984. doi: 10.1016/j.envres.2021.111984. Epub 2021 Sep 4.
Exposure to hexavalent chromium [Cr(VI)] may occur in several occupational activities, e.g., welding, Cr(VI) electroplating and other surface treatment processes. The aim of this study was to provide EU relevant data on occupational Cr(VI) exposure to support the regulatory risk assessment and decision-making. In addition, the capability and validity of different biomarkers for the assessment of Cr(VI) exposure were evaluated. The study involved nine European countries and involved 399 workers in different industry sectors with exposures to Cr(VI) such as welding, bath plating, applying or removing paint and other tasks. We also studied 203 controls to establish a background in workers with no direct exposure to Cr(VI). We applied a cross-sectional study design and used chromium in urine as the primary biomonitoring method for Cr(VI) exposure. Additionally, we studied the use of red blood cells (RBC) and exhaled breath condensate (EBC) for biomonitoring of exposure to Cr(VI). Personal measurements were used to study exposure to inhalable and respirable Cr(VI) by personal air sampling. Dermal exposure was studied by taking hand wipe samples. The highest internal exposures were observed in the use of Cr(VI) in electrolytic bath plating. In stainless steel welding the internal Cr exposure was clearly lower when compared to plating activities. We observed a high correlation between chromium urinary levels and air Cr(VI) or dermal total Cr exposure. Urinary chromium showed its value as a first approach for the assessment of total, internal exposure. Correlations between urinary chromium and Cr(VI) in EBC and Cr in RBC were low, probably due to differences in kinetics and indicating that these biomonitoring approaches may not be interchangeable but rather complementary. This study showed that occupational biomonitoring studies can be conducted successfully by multi-national collaboration and provide relevant information to support policy actions aiming to reduce occupational exposure to chemicals.
六价铬（Cr(VI)）的暴露可能发生在多种职业活动中，例如焊接、Cr(VI)电镀和其他表面处理工艺。本研究的目的是提供欧盟有关职业 Cr(VI)暴露的数据，以支持监管风险评估和决策。此外，还评估了不同生物标志物评估 Cr(VI)暴露的能力和有效性。该研究涉及 9 个欧洲国家，涉及 399 名在不同行业部门工作的工人，他们接触到 Cr(VI)，如焊接、浴镀、涂漆和其他任务。我们还研究了 203 名对照工人，以建立无直接接触 Cr(VI)的工人背景。我们采用了横断面研究设计，将尿液中的铬作为 Cr(VI)暴露的主要生物监测方法。此外，我们还研究了红细胞（RBC）和呼气冷凝物（EBC）在 Cr(VI)暴露生物监测中的应用。个人测量用于通过个人空气采样研究可吸入和可呼吸 Cr(VI)的暴露。通过擦拭手部样本研究皮肤暴露。在使用 Cr(VI)进行电解浴镀时，观察到最高的内部暴露。与电镀活动相比，不锈钢焊接时内部 Cr 暴露明显较低。我们观察到尿液铬水平与空气 Cr(VI)或皮肤总 Cr 暴露之间的高度相关性。尿液铬显示了其作为评估总内部暴露的初步方法的价值。尿液铬与 EBC 中的 Cr(VI)和 RBC 中的 Cr 之间的相关性较低，这可能是由于动力学差异所致，表明这些生物监测方法可能不能互换，而是互补的。本研究表明，职业生物监测研究可以通过跨国合作成功进行，并提供相关信息，以支持旨在减少职业暴露于化学物质的政策行动。
