Haruna A Y, Ohaeri J U, Lawal R A, Suleiman T G, Orija O B
Yaba Psychiatric Hospital, Lagos, Nigeria.
East Afr Med J. 1998 Jan;75(1):4-10.
Inspite of numerous reports on the neurobehavioural effects of paints, there have been no such studies from Nigeria, where there are now many paint factories. The general aim of this study was, to assess the prevalence of specific psychiatric morbidity among workers in a large paint manufacturing factory. Using the Psychiatric Assessment Schedule (PAS), 60 workers (mean age, 38.1) directly involved in paint manufacture, 60 administrative staff (mean age 41.1) in the factory, and 60 postal workers (mean age 37.7) were assessed. Although higher proportions of factory workers (80%), and postal workers (73.3%) had positive PAS scores compared with administrators (36.7%), there were no significant differences in mean PAS scores across the groups. Two subjects each of factory workers (agoraphobia and dysthymia) and postal workers (dysthymia and generalised anxiety) fulfilled DSM-IIIR criteria for specific diagnosis. However, the paint workers had a wider spread of PAS symptoms, were significantly more likely to experience the symptoms constituting neurasthenia, had many more psychological complaints, experienced a wider variety of spontaneously reported symptoms, and constituted the most frequent users of health services. They had no knowledge of the possible mental health effects of exposure to paint. This level of distress is comparable to many reported findings.
尽管有大量关于油漆对神经行为影响的报告，但在尼日利亚却没有此类研究，而该国目前有许多油漆厂。本研究的总体目标是评估一家大型油漆制造厂工人中特定精神疾病的患病率。使用精神科评估量表（PAS），对60名直接参与油漆生产的工人（平均年龄38.1岁）、该厂的60名行政人员（平均年龄41.1岁）和60名邮政工人（平均年龄37.7岁）进行了评估。尽管与行政人员（36.7%）相比，工厂工人（80%）和邮政工人（73.3%）的PAS得分呈阳性的比例更高，但各组的平均PAS得分没有显著差异。工厂工人（广场恐惧症和心境恶劣）和邮政工人（心境恶劣和广泛性焦虑）各有两名受试者符合DSM-IIIR特定诊断标准。然而，油漆工人的PAS症状分布更广，更有可能出现构成神经衰弱的症状，有更多的心理抱怨，经历了更多自发报告的症状，并且是医疗服务的最频繁使用者。他们对接触油漆可能对心理健康产生的影响一无所知。这种痛苦程度与许多报告的结果相当。
