Increased lymphocyte DNA strand breaks in rubber workers.
OBJECTIVE
To study the effect of occupational exposure to rubber processing, smoking, and alcohol drinking on lymphocyte DNA damage.


METHODS
Of 371 employees (197 men and 174 women) from a rubber factory in Guangzhou, 281 were rubber processing workers from five production sections and 90 were managerial workers. Information on occupational exposure, smoking, and drinking was collected by interviews. Blood samples were taken in the morning by venipuncture. DNA damages were measured by the Comet assay. Possible DNA-protein crosslinks were broken down by proteinase K. Tail moment, measured by Komet 4.0 image analysis software, was the measure of DNA damage.


RESULTS
The rubber processing workers had larger tail moment than the managerial workers (Geometric mean, 95%CI) [1. 77microm (1.64-1.90) versus 1.52microm (1.36-1.71), P=0.04]. Both smoking [1.93microm (1.74-2.13) versus 1.59microm (1.47-1.71), P=0. 003] and alcohol drinking [2.21microm (1.87-2.62) versus 1.63microm (1.53-1.74), P<0.001] increased tail moment. Tail moment differed significantly among job categories (F=3.21, P=0.008), the largest was observed in mixers. In the non-smoking and non-drinking workers, rubber processing workers had larger tail moment than managerial workers after adjusting for age (P=0.033). General linear model analysis showed that after adjusting for each other, occupational exposure (P=0.027), smoking (P=0.012), and alcohol drinking (P=0. 013) was associated with larger tail moment, whereas age and gender had no effect.


CONCLUSIONS
Occupational exposure to rubber processing, smoking, and alcohol drinking can cause DNA damage.
Zhu
C Q
CQ
Department of Community Medicine, The University of Hong Kong, Patrick Mansion Building South Wing, 7 Sassoon Road, Hong Kong, China. cqzhu@hkusua.hku.hk
Lam
T H
TH
Jiang
C Q
CQ
Wei
B X
BX
Xu
Q R
QR
Chen
Y H
YH
D020552:Comet Assay; D004249:DNA Damage; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008214:Lymphocytes / Q000648:ultrastructure*; D008297:Male; D016273:Occupational Exposure; D012408:Rubber
D012408:Rubber