title: Nickel and blood counts in workers exposed to urban stressors.
abstract: Nickel (Ni) and Ni compounds are widely present in the urban air. The purpose of this study is to estimate exposure of individuals to Ni and the correlation between this exposure and the values of blood counts in outdoor workers. This study focused on a sample of 101 outdoor workers (55 male and 46 female; 65 nonsmokers and 36 smokers), all employed in the municipal police in a large Italian city. The personal levels of exposure to Ni were assessed through (a) environmental monitoring of Ni present in the urban air obtained from individual samples and (b) biological monitoring of urinary and blood Ni. The blood count parameters were obtained from the hemochromocytometric tests. Pearson correlation coefficients (r) were calculated to assess the association between the blood and urinary Ni and the complete blood count. Multiple linear regression models were used to examine the associations between the complete blood count and the independent variables (age, gender, years of work for current tasks, cigarette smoking habit (current and never smoker), values of airborne Ni, and blood and urinary Ni). Multiple linear regression analysis performed on the total group of 101 subjects confirms the association among the red blood cells count, the hematocrit, and the urinary Ni (R(2) = 0.520, p = 0.025 and R(2) = 0.530, p = 0.030). These results should lead to further studies on the effects of Ni in working populations exposed to urban pollutants. The possibility that the associations found in our study may be partially explained by other urban pollutants (such as benzene, toluene, and other heavy metals) not taken into consideration in this study cannot be ruled out.
authors.affiliation: Department of Anatomy, Histology, Medical-Legal and the Orthopedics, Unit of Occupational Medicine, Sapienza University of Rome, Rome, Italy.
authors.forename: Maria Valeria
authors.initials: MV
authors.lastname: Rosati
authors.affiliation: Department of Anatomy, Histology, Medical-Legal and the Orthopedics, Unit of Occupational Medicine, Sapienza University of Rome, Rome, Italy.
authors.forename: Teodorico
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Casale
authors.affiliation: Department of Anatomy, Histology, Medical-Legal and the Orthopedics, Unit of Occupational Medicine, Sapienza University of Rome, Rome, Italy.
authors.forename: Manuela
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Ciarrocca
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Karolinska Institute, Stockholm, Sweden Cancer Registry of Norway, Oslo, Norway Department of Community Medicine, University of Tromsø-The Arctic University of Norway, Tromsø, Norway Samfundet Folkhalsan, Helsinki, Finland.
authors.forename: Elisabete
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Weiderpass
authors.affiliation: Department of Anatomy, Histology, Medical-Legal and the Orthopedics, Unit of Occupational Medicine, Sapienza University of Rome, Rome, Italy.
authors.forename: Assunta
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Capozzella
authors.affiliation: Department of Anatomy, Histology, Medical-Legal and the Orthopedics, Unit of Occupational Medicine, Sapienza University of Rome, Rome, Italy.
authors.forename: Maria Pia
authors.initials: MP
authors.lastname: Schifano
authors.affiliation: Department of Anatomy, Histology, Medical-Legal and the Orthopedics, Unit of Occupational Medicine, Sapienza University of Rome, Rome, Italy.
authors.forename: Francesco
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Tomei
authors.affiliation: National University of Buenos Aires, Catedra Libre de Salud y Seguridad en el Trabajo, Buenos Aires, Argentina.
authors.forename: Hector Alberto
authors.initials: HA
authors.lastname: Nieto
authors.affiliation: Department of Anatomy, Histology, Medical-Legal and the Orthopedics, Unit of Occupational Medicine, Sapienza University of Rome, Rome, Italy.
authors.forename: Mariasilvia
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Marrocco
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatric and Psychological Science, Sapienza University of Rome, Rome, Italy franc.tomei@alice.it.
authors.forename: Gianfranco
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Tomei
authors.affiliation: Department of Anatomy, Histology, Medical-Legal and the Orthopedics, Unit of Occupational Medicine, Sapienza University of Rome, Rome, Italy.
authors.forename: Tiziana
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Caciari
authors.affiliation: Department of Anatomy, Histology, Medical-Legal and the Orthopedics, Unit of Occupational Medicine, Sapienza University of Rome, Rome, Italy.
authors.forename: Angela
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Sancini
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000393:Air Pollutants / Q000097:blood* / Q000652:urine*; D001554:Benzene; D001772:Blood Cell Count; D002947:Cities; D004784:Environmental Monitoring; D005260:Female; D006400:Hematocrit; D006801:Humans; D007558:Italy; D057230:Limit of Detection; D016014:Linear Models; D008297:Male; D019216:Metals, Heavy / Q000097:blood; D008875:Middle Aged; D009532:Nickel / Q000097:blood* / Q000652:urine*; D016273:Occupational Exposure / Q000009:adverse effects*; D016495:Police; D012907:Smoking / Q000009:adverse effects; D013312:Stress, Physiological; D014050:Toluene / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000097:blood
chemical_list: D000393:Air Pollutants; D019216:Metals, Heavy; D014050:Toluene; D009532:Nickel; D001554:Benzene
keywords: Environmental health; biological monitoring; blood cells; nickel; outdoor workers; urban pollution