Ghasemi Roohollah, Saranjam Behzad, Zarei Ahmad, Babaei Amin, Ghaffari Hamid Reza, Fazlzadeh Mehdi
Department of Occupational Health Engineering, School of Public Health, Ardabil University of Medical Sciences, Ardabil, Iran.
Department of Environmental Health Engineering, School of Public Health, Gonabad University of Medical Sciences, Gonabad, Iran.
Sci Rep. 2025 Mar 11;15(1):8435. doi: 10.1038/s41598-025-92336-7.
This case-control study aimed to investigate the health risks faced by university professors as a result of using whiteboard markers. The study included 30 professors who used the whiteboard markers for teaching and 20 professors who used other teaching aids. Samples of urine and breathing air were collected from the participants, and then analyzed in the laboratory using gas chromatography (GC) to measure the concentrations of BTEX compounds. The carcinogenic and non-carcinogenic risks of these compounds were assessed using a probabilistic method. The mean concentrations (ug/L) of compounds in the urine differed significantly (p < 0.05) between the case and control groups for benzene (82.59 vs. 65.36), toluene (128.47 vs. 85.65), and ethylbenzene (9.09 vs. 25.16). The mean lifetime cancer risk (LTCR) for benzene (8.27 × 10) and ethylbenzene (9.38 × 10) as well as the non-carcinogenic risk of all compounds in the control group were below the acceptable limit. Due to the higher concentration of compounds in the urine of the case group compared to the control group, it is essential to utilize alternative teaching methods in educational settings instead of traditional whiteboards and chemical markers.
这项病例对照研究旨在调查大学教授因使用白板笔而面临的健康风险。该研究纳入了30名使用白板笔教学的教授和20名使用其他教学辅助工具的教授。从参与者身上采集尿液和呼吸空气样本，然后在实验室中使用气相色谱法（GC）进行分析，以测量BTEX化合物的浓度。使用概率方法评估这些化合物的致癌和非致癌风险。病例组和对照组尿液中化合物的平均浓度（μg/L）在苯（82.59对65.36）、甲苯（128.47对85.65）和乙苯（9.09对25.16）方面存在显著差异（p<0.05）。对照组中苯（8.27×10）和乙苯（9.38×10）的平均终身癌症风险（LTCR）以及所有化合物的非致癌风险均低于可接受限值。由于病例组尿液中化合物的浓度高于对照组，因此在教育环境中使用替代教学方法而非传统白板和化学笔至关重要。
