Cancer risk of petrochemical workers exposed to airborne PAHs in industrial Lanzhou City, China.
This paper reports the connections between red blood cells abnormality risk of petrochemical workers and their exposure to airborne polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs). Urinary 1-hydroxypyrene (1-OHP), as the biomarker of PAHs exposure, was adopted to assess the exposure risk of the petrochemical workers to PAHs in Xigu, the west suburb of Lanzhou where petrochemical industries are located. Fifty-three workers, sub-grouped to 36 petrochemical workers and 17 office workers, participated in this investigation. Logistic regression model and spearman correlation analysis were performed to estimate the associations between PAHs exposure levels and red blood cells abnormality risk of petrochemical workers. Strong associations between some red cell indices (MCH, MCHC, RDW) and 1-OHP concentration were found. Results also show that the red blood cells abnormality risk increased with increasing PAHs exposure level. Compared with office workers, risk level of red blood cells abnormality in petrochemical workers was higher by 41.7 % (OR, 1.417; 95 % CI: 0.368-5.456) than that in office workers. This result was verified by the tissue-to-human blood partition coefficient for pyrene and 1-OHP. The quantitative assessments of the potential health risk through inhalation exposure to PAHs were conducted using the Incremental Lifetime Cancer Risk (ILCR) model. It was found the ILCR from inhalation exposure to PAHs for the petrochemical workers ranged from 10(-5) to 10(-4) with 95 % probability, indicating that petrochemical plant workers were under a high potential cancer risk level.
Key Laboratory for Environmental Pollution Prediction and Control, Gansu Province, College of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou, 730000, China.
Li
L
Wang
Key Laboratory for Environmental Pollution Prediction and Control, Gansu Province, College of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou, 730000, China.
Yuan
Y
Zhao
Lanzhou Petrochemical Hospital, Lanzhou, 730060, China.
Xianying
X
Liu
Key Laboratory for Environmental Pollution Prediction and Control, Gansu Province, College of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou, 730000, China.
Tao
T
Huang
Key Laboratory for Environmental Pollution Prediction and Control, Gansu Province, College of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou, 730000, China.
Yanan
Y
Wang
Key Laboratory for Environmental Pollution Prediction and Control, Gansu Province, College of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou, 730000, China. honggao@lzu.edu.cn.
Hong
H
Gao
Key Laboratory for Environmental Pollution Prediction and Control, Gansu Province, College of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou, 730000, China. jianminma@lzu.edu.cn.
Jianmin
J
Ma
D000395:Air Pollutants, Occupational / Q000032:analysis* / Q000097:blood / Q000633:toxicity / Q000652:urine; D015415:Biomarkers / Q000652:urine; D002681:China; D004912:Erythrocytes / Q000187:drug effects / Q000473:pathology; D006801:Humans; D016015:Logistic Models; D008962:Models, Theoretical; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000139:chemically induced*; D016273:Occupational Exposure / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000032:analysis*; D000066388:Oil and Gas Industry; D011084:Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons / Q000032:analysis* / Q000097:blood / Q000633:toxicity / Q000652:urine; D012306:Risk; D014018:Tissue Distribution
D000395:Air Pollutants, Occupational; D015415:Biomarkers; D011084:Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons
Airborne PAHs; ILCR model; Occupational exposure; Partition coefficient; Red blood cells abnormality; Urinary 1-hydroxypyrene (1-OHP)