title: Study on urine boron reference values of Japanese men: use of confidence intervals as an indicator of exposure to boron compounds.
abstract: A simple and rapid method for the determination of urine boron by inductively-coupled plasma argon emission spectrometry (ICPAES) has been developed to establish boron exposure guidelines. After 11-fold dilution in 18.25 M omega cm ultra-pure water and vigorous shaking, urine may be directly injected into the spectrometer, providing accurate and reproducible results. We report the results obtained with urine samples obtained from a group of male Japanese electronic workers (n = 102) who had not been exposed to boron; boron concentrations were corrected with use of a specific gravity of 1.024 g/ml. The frequency distribution resulted in a log-normal distribution diagram for anatomical spread. The geometric mean values for urine boron in the non-exposed workers was 798.0 micrograms/l, while the confidence interval (C.I.) was between 398.1 and 1599.6 micrograms/l. Taking into consideration the short biological half-life of boron and its major excretion route via urine, urine was considered to be a suitable means for monitoring of exposure to this element. We conclude that the guidelines established by determining boron reference values are useful for the protection of individuals exposed to boron in their working environments.
authors.affiliation: Department of Hygiene and Public Health, Osaka Medical College, Japan.
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Usuda
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Kono
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Dote
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Miyata
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Nishiura
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Shimahara
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Sugimoto
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001895:Boron / Q000652:urine*; D016001:Confidence Intervals; D004781:Environmental Exposure; D006801:Humans; D007564:Japan; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D016273:Occupational Exposure; D012016:Reference Values
chemical_list: D001895:Boron