Department of Occupational Safety and Health, College of Public Health, China Medical University, Taichung, Taiwan.
Institute of Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences, College of Public Health, National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan.
Environ Res. 2022 Oct;213:113644. doi: 10.1016/j.envres.2022.113644. Epub 2022 Jun 10.
Many volatile organic compounds (VOCs) are used for experiments at universities, and most of them contain benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene, xylene, and an extraction solvent of dichloromethane. This study aimed to investigate the indoor concentrations of these five compounds in different locations on campus and to evaluate possible health risks for faculty members and students in a medical university. We selected 10 locations as sampling sites to conduct 4-h monitoring sessions on weekdays each season during 2019-2020. We used a 6-liter canister to collect air samples and analyzed these five VOCs via gas chromatography with a flame ionization detector. Monte Carlo simulation was performed to evaluate the carcinogenic and noncarcinogenic risks of these five VOCs. We found that dichloromethane was the most highly detected compound (median: 621.07 μg/m; range: 44.01-8523.91 μg/m), and the Department of Medicine had the highest concentration of the total of these VOCs among all of the locations (median: 5595.29 μg/m; range: 1565.67-7398.66 μg/m). The median carcinogenic risks of dichloromethane and benzene were 6.36 × 10 (95% confidence interval [CI]: 6.83 × 10-7.37 × 10) and 5.47 × 10 (95% CI: 4.03 × 10-2.42 × 10), respectively, for faculty members, and the lower risks of 3.14 × 10 (95% CI: 3.39 × 10-3.64 × 10) and 2.69 × 10 (95% CI: 1.97 × 10-1.19 × 10) were estimated for the students. The chronic noncarcinogenic risks of four VOCs were less than one, except for dichloromethane with a median hazard index of 1.92 (95% CI: 2.11 × 10-2.22 × 10). This study observed the spatial variation in the concentrations of the total of five VOCs and dichloromethane. The carcinogenic risks were classified as being at the possible level, and the noncarcinogenic risk of dichloromethane was greater than the acceptable level. Increasing local exhaust ventilation during the experiment and reducing the using amount of dichloromethane are recommended actions to reduce VOCs exposures in the medical university.
许多挥发性有机化合物（VOCs）被用于大学的实验，其中大部分含有苯、甲苯、乙苯、二甲苯和二氯甲烷作为萃取溶剂。本研究旨在调查校园不同地点这五种化合物的室内浓度，并评估医学院校教职员工和学生可能面临的健康风险。我们选择了 10 个采样点，在 2019-2020 年每个季节的工作日进行 4 小时监测。我们使用 6 升罐采集空气样本，并通过气相色谱法和火焰电离检测器分析这五种 VOCs。采用蒙特卡罗模拟评估这五种 VOCs 的致癌和非致癌风险。结果发现，二氯甲烷是检出浓度最高的化合物（中位数：621.07μg/m3；范围：44.01-8523.91μg/m3），在所有地点中，医学系的这五种 VOC 总量浓度最高（中位数：5595.29μg/m3；范围：1565.67-7398.66μg/m3）。二氯甲烷和苯的致癌风险中位数分别为教职员工的 6.36×10-9（95%置信区间[CI]：6.83×10-77.37×10-9）和 5.47×10-9（95% CI：4.03×10-22.42×10-9），学生的风险较低，分别为 3.14×10-9（95% CI：3.39×10-33.64×10-9）和 2.69×10-9（95% CI：1.97×10-11.19×10-1）。除二氯甲烷外，四种 VOC 的慢性非致癌风险均小于 1，二氯甲烷的危害指数中位数为 1.92（95% CI：2.11×10-2~2.22×10-2）。本研究观察了五种 VOC 总量和二氯甲烷的浓度空间变化。致癌风险被归类为可能水平，二氯甲烷的非致癌风险大于可接受水平。建议在实验过程中增加局部排气通风并减少二氯甲烷的使用量，以降低医学院校的 VOC 暴露。
