Ritchie K A, Macdonald E B, Hammersley R, O'Neil J M, McGowan D A, Dale I M, Wesnes K
Department of Public Health, University of Glasgow.
Occup Environ Med. 1995 Dec;52(12):813-7. doi: 10.1136/oem.52.12.813.
This project was conducted to examine whether the computerised analysis of psychomotor responses available from Cognitive Drug Research is appropriate for measuring an effect of low level exposure to mercury in dentists.
A computerised battery of psychomotor tests was given to two groups of dentists (older dentists and trainees) and to two age matched control groups. As well as the psychomotor tests, volunteers were required to complete a questionnaire to identify potential influences on psychomotor performance and to provide a sample for analysis of urinary mercury.
Statistical analysis of the results showed that the older dentists had slightly higher concentrations of urinary mercury although most were around background levels and they were all within occupational limits. Five of the psychomotor tests showed no differences between the performance of the four groups. The older dentists showed significantly better performance on the simple reaction time test and significantly poorer performance in the immediate word recall and delayed word recall tests.
Poorer performance in memory recall tests confirms previously reported studies. This together with the confirmation that this test system is a practical tool in the occupational setting suggests that a larger study of the effects of mercury exposure on dentists would be appropriate.
开展本项目以检验认知药物研究中可用的心理运动反应计算机化分析是否适合用于测量牙医低水平汞暴露的影响。
对两组牙医（年长牙医和实习牙医）以及两个年龄匹配的对照组进行了一系列心理运动测试的计算机化检测。除了心理运动测试外，还要求志愿者填写一份问卷，以确定对心理运动表现的潜在影响，并提供一份尿液汞分析样本。
对结果的统计分析表明，年长牙医的尿汞浓度略高，尽管大多数处于背景水平左右，且均在职业限值范围内。五项心理运动测试显示四组表现之间无差异。年长牙医在简单反应时间测试中表现明显更好，而在即时单词回忆和延迟单词回忆测试中表现明显更差。
记忆回忆测试中较差的表现证实了先前报道的研究。这与该测试系统是职业环境中实用工具的确认结果一起表明，对汞暴露对牙医影响的更大规模研究是合适的。
