Reilly M J, Rosenman K D, Abrams J H, Zhu Z, Tseng C, Hertzberg V, Rice C
Michigan State University, College of Human Medicine, Department of Medicine, East Lansing 48824-1316, USA.
Occup Environ Med. 1995 May;52(5):337-43. doi: 10.1136/oem.52.5.337.
To assess the acute and chronic ophthalmological effects of triethylamine exposure among foundry workers.
Ocular effects on people currently, previously, and never exposed to triethylamine in a foundry cold box were studied at two points in time. The initial phase included an ocular examination with a slit lamp to assess corneal health, a visual acuity test, and a questionnaire to assess vision symptoms. The follow up included measurements of corneal thickness with an ultrasonic pachymeter and the vision symptoms questionnaire before and after the shift and at the beginning and end of the week. Personal air measurements for triethylamine were also obtained during the follow up.
The vision symptoms of blurriness, halos around lights, and blue hazy vision occurred more often in currently exposed workers than those previously or never exposed to triethylamine. Air concentrations of triethylamine ranged from < 0.33 mg/m3 to 20.3 mg/m3. Among currently exposed workers, symptoms were more common among those with exposure to > 10 mg/m3 of triethylamine (odds ratio (OR) = 3.0, 95% confidence interval (95% CI) 0.35-25.6). No differences in corneal thickness were found in currently or previously exposed workers and those never exposed. No increase in corneal thickness was found after v before the shift.
Despite low concentrations of triethylamine and no corneal oedema, workers exposed to triethylamine reported vision symptoms. Possible explanations for these symptoms without corneal oedema are that triethylamine affects ciliary muscle function or that the corneal oedema was transient and not present when corneal thickness measurements were taken. No chronic effects were found in previously exposed workers. Further research is needed to elucidate the mechanism for the reported vision symptoms, which occurred below the current United States eight hour time weighted standard of 100 mg/m3 and the American Conference of Governmental Industrial Hygienists (ACGIH) recommended value at the time of our study of 40 mg/m3. We recommend that air concentrations be maintained to meet the current recommended ACGIH threshold of 4.1 mg/m3.
评估铸造工人接触三乙胺后的急性和慢性眼科影响。
在两个时间点研究了铸造冷芯盒中当前、以前和从未接触过三乙胺的人群的眼部影响。初始阶段包括使用裂隙灯进行眼部检查以评估角膜健康状况、视力测试以及一份评估视觉症状的问卷。随访包括使用超声角膜测厚仪测量角膜厚度以及在轮班前、轮班后、一周开始和结束时进行视觉症状问卷调查。在随访期间还获取了个人空气中三乙胺的测量值。
当前接触三乙胺的工人比以前或从未接触过三乙胺的工人更常出现视力模糊、光晕和蓝色朦胧视觉等视觉症状。三乙胺的空气浓度范围为<0.33毫克/立方米至20.3毫克/立方米。在当前接触的工人中，接触三乙胺>10毫克/立方米的人群中症状更为常见（优势比（OR）=3.0，95%置信区间（95%CI）0.35 - 25.6）。当前或以前接触过三乙胺的工人与从未接触过的工人在角膜厚度上没有差异。轮班前和轮班后角膜厚度没有增加。
尽管三乙胺浓度较低且未出现角膜水肿，但接触三乙胺的工人报告有视觉症状。这些无角膜水肿症状的可能解释是三乙胺影响睫状肌功能，或者角膜水肿是短暂的，在测量角膜厚度时不存在。以前接触过三乙胺的工人未发现慢性影响。需要进一步研究以阐明所报告视觉症状的机制，这些症状出现在低于美国当时8小时时间加权标准100毫克/立方米以及我们研究时美国政府工业卫生学家会议（ACGIH）推荐值40毫克/立方米的情况下。我们建议维持空气浓度以符合当前ACGIH推荐的4.1毫克/立方米阈值。
