Lundström R, Nilsson T, Burström L, Hagberg M
National Institute for Working Life, Division of Technical Industrial Hygiene, Umeå, Sweden.
Cent Eur J Public Health. 1995;3 Suppl:62-5.
Vibrotactile perception thresholds (VPT) at seven test frequencies (8-500 Hz) have been measured and evaluated among 170 male employees at a heavy engineering production workshop, 125 of them were at present, or in the past, exposed to hand-arm vibration. All participants were examined by a physician and none had symptoms of diseases or were exposed to other factors known to cause sensory neuropathies. VPTs [for the three lowest (8-32 Hz; non-Pacinian), for the four highest (63-500 Hz; Pacinian) and for all test frequencies together] and a sensitivity index (SI) has been individually graded in four (normal, slightly deteriorated, deteriorated and seriously deteriorated) and two (normal, abnormal) stages, respectively, and put in relation to individual exposure of vibration. The results do not show any clear relationship on an individual basis between vibration exposure and degraded vibrotactile perception. On a group basis, however, there is a clear tendency towards detoriorated VPTs when the study group is divided in exposure categories. The detorioration is most pronounced in the frequency range mediated by Pacinian corpuscles. In this range an approximately four-fold increase of relative risk for elevated VPT for those in the highest exposure category was observed compared to the non-exposed group. Corresponding relative risk estimate for SI is about 6. Therefore, the results suggest an existence of an exposure-response relationship.
在一家重型机械制造车间，对170名男性员工测量并评估了七个测试频率（8 - 500赫兹）下的振动触觉感知阈值（VPT）。其中125人目前或过去接触过手臂振动。所有参与者都接受了医生检查，且无人有疾病症状或接触过其他已知会导致感觉神经病变的因素。VPT（针对三个最低频率（8 - 32赫兹；非帕西尼小体介导）、四个最高频率（63 - 500赫兹；帕西尼小体介导）以及所有测试频率总和）和一个敏感度指数（SI）分别被单独划分为四个阶段（正常、轻度恶化、恶化和严重恶化）和两个阶段（正常、异常），并与个体的振动暴露情况相关联。结果在个体层面上未显示出振动暴露与振动触觉感知退化之间有任何明确关系。然而，在群体层面上，当将研究组按暴露类别划分时，VPT有明显的恶化趋势。这种恶化在由帕西尼小体介导的频率范围内最为明显。在这个范围内，与未暴露组相比，最高暴露类别的个体VPT升高的相对风险增加了约四倍。SI的相应相对风险估计约为6。因此，结果表明存在暴露 - 反应关系。
