Department of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, International St. Mary's Hospital, Catholic Kwandong University, Incheon, Korea.
Graduate School of Public Health and Healthcare Management, The Catholic University of Korea, Seoul, Korea.
J Korean Med Sci. 2023 Aug 28;38(34):e271. doi: 10.3346/jkms.2023.38.e271.
Lead, which is widely used in various industrial settings, is a major health hazard for manufacturing workers. Therefore, control of lead exposure has been implemented in an effort to prevent lead-related health problems. In this study, our aim was to evaluate temporal trends in occupational lead exposure in Korean lead workers using data from monitoring of workplace exposure.
A nationwide work environment monitoring database, data from a work environment monitoring institution, and data extracted from a review paper were utilized. Different versions of standard industrial classification codes were aligned with the 10th Korean Standard Industrial Classification, which is generally consistent with the 4th revision of the International Standard Industrial Classification. The multiple data sources were combined and temporal trends over the period from 1994-2021 were estimated. In addition, separate estimation of temporal trends in the storage battery manufacturing industry over the period from 1987-2021 was also performed.
A total of 444,296 personal airborne lead measurements were used for the estimation process. The temporal trends in occupational exposure to lead declined by -6% annually over the study period. In particular, levels of lead exposure in the storage battery manufacturing industry showed a steeper decline of -12% annually.
Findings of our study showed that occupational exposure to lead declined over the period from 1994 to 2021 in Korea. However, adverse effects of exposure to lead on health should be regarded with caution. The results will be useful in conduct of epidemiological studies examining lead-related effects on health.
铅被广泛应用于各种工业领域，是制造业工人的主要健康危害物。因此，为了预防与铅相关的健康问题，已经实施了控制铅暴露的措施。本研究旨在利用工作场所暴露监测数据，评估韩国铅作业工人职业性铅暴露的时间趋势。
使用了全国工作环境监测数据库、工作环境监测机构的数据以及从一篇综述论文中提取的数据。不同版本的标准工业分类代码与第 10 版韩国标准工业分类对齐，该分类与国际标准工业分类的第 4 次修订版基本一致。将多个数据源合并，并对 1994 年至 2021 年期间的时间趋势进行了估计。此外，还对 1987 年至 2021 年期间蓄电池制造业的时间趋势进行了单独估计。
共使用了 444296 次个人空气铅测量值进行估计。研究期间，职业性铅暴露的时间趋势每年下降 6%。特别是，蓄电池制造业的铅暴露水平每年下降 12%，下降幅度更大。
本研究结果表明，1994 年至 2021 年期间韩国职业性铅暴露呈下降趋势。然而，对铅暴露对健康的不良影响应持谨慎态度。这些结果将有助于开展研究铅对健康影响的流行病学研究。
