title: Prevalence of beryllium sensitization among Department of Defense conventional munitions workers at low risk for exposure.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To estimate the prevalence of beryllium sensitization among former and current Department of Defense workers from a conventional munitions facility.
  
  
  METHODS
  Participants were screened by using Beryllium Lymphocyte Proliferation Test. Those sensitized were offered clinical evaluation for chronic beryllium disease.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Eight (1.5%) of 524 screened workers were found sensitized to beryllium. Although the confidence interval was wide, the results suggested a possibly higher risk of sensitization among workers exposed to beryllium by occasional resurfacing of copper-2% beryllium alloy tools compared with workers with the lowest potential exposure (odds ratio = 2.6; 95% confidence interval, 0.23-29.9).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The findings from this study suggest that Department of Defense workers with low overall exposure to beryllium had a low prevalence of beryllium sensitization. Sensitization rates might be higher where higher beryllium exposures presumably occurred, although this study lacked sufficient power to confirm this.
authors.affiliation: Department of Occupational and Environmental Health, College of Public Health, The University of Iowa, Iowa City, Iowa 52242, USA. marek-mikulski@uiowa.edu
authors.forename: Marek A
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Mikulski
authors.forename: Wayne T
authors.initials: WT
authors.lastname: Sanderson
authors.forename: Stephanie A
authors.initials: SA
authors.lastname: Leonard
authors.forename: Spencer
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Lourens
authors.forename: R William
authors.initials: RW
authors.lastname: Field
authors.forename: Nancy L
authors.initials: NL
authors.lastname: Sprince
authors.forename: Laurence J
authors.initials: LJ
authors.lastname: Fuortes
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001608:Beryllium / Q000009:adverse effects*; D015331:Cohort Studies; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D054043:Nuclear Weapons; D009784:Occupational Diseases / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology*; D016273:Occupational Exposure / Q000009:adverse effects*; D015995:Prevalence; D012306:Risk; D012307:Risk Factors; D014481:United States; D059030:United States Department of Defense
chemical_list: D001608:Beryllium