title: Psychomotor effects of mixed organic solvents on rubber workers.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Exposure to organic solvents is common among workers.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  To assess neurobehavioral effects of long-term exposure to organic solvents among rubber workers in Tehran, Iran.
  
  
  METHODS
  Across-sectional study was conducted on 223 employees of a rubber industry. The participants completed a data collection sheet on their occupational and medical history, and demographic characteristics including age, work experience, education level; they performed 6 psychiatric tests on the neurobehavioral core test battery (NCTB) that measure simple reaction time, short-term memory (digit span, Benton), eye-hand coordination (Purdue pegboard, pursuit aiming), and perceptual speed (digit symbol).
  
  
  RESULTS
  Workers exposed and not exposed to organic solvents had similar age and education distribution. The mean work experience of the exposed and non-exposed workers was 5.9 and 4.4 years, respectively. The exposed workers had a lower performance compared to non-exposed workers in all psychomotor tests. After controlling for the confounders by logistic regression analysis, it was found that exposure to organic solvents had a significant effect on the results of digit symbols, digit span, Benton, aiming, and simple reaction time tests. No significant effect was observed in pegboard test.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Occupational exposure to organic solvent can induce subtle neurobehavioral changes among workers exposed to organic solvents; therefore, periodical evaluation of the central nervous system by objective psychomotor tests is recommended among those who are chronically exposed to organic solvents.
authors.forename: O
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Aminian
authors.affiliation: Center for Research on Occupational Diseases, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran. brakialis@yahoo.com.
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Hashemi
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Sadeghniiat-Haghighi
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Shariatzadeh
authors.forename: A H
authors.initials: AH
authors.lastname: Naseri Esfahani
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001519:Behavior / Q000187:drug effects*; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D006801:Humans; D007221:Industry; D007492:Iran; D016015:Logistic Models; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D016273:Occupational Exposure / Q000009:adverse effects*; D009930:Organic Chemicals / Q000009:adverse effects*; D011596:Psychomotor Disorders / Q000139:chemically induced*; D011930:Reaction Time; D012408:Rubber; D012997:Solvents / Q000009:adverse effects*
chemical_list: D009930:Organic Chemicals; D012997:Solvents; D012408:Rubber
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