title: A cohort study of the acute and chronic respiratory effects of toner exposure among handlers: a longitudinal analyses from 2004 to 2013.
abstract: This study examines the acute and chronic respiratory effects of toner exposure based on markers for interstitial pneumonia, oxidative stress and pulmonary function tests. A total of 112 subjects working in a Japanese toner and photocopier manufacturing company participated in this study in 2004. We annually conducted personal exposure measurements, pulmonary function tests, chest X-ray examinations, biomarkers, and questionnaires on respiratory symptoms to the subjects. We report in this paper the results of the analysis of combined annual survey point data from 2004 to 2008 and data from three annual survey points, 2004, 2008, and 2013. During these survey periods, we observed that none of subjects had a new onset of respiratory disease or died of such a disease. In both the analyses, there were no significant differences in each biomarker and pulmonary function tests within the subjects, nor between a toner-handling group and a non-toner-handling group, except for a few results on pulmonary function tests. The findings of this study suggest that there were no acute and chronic respiratory effects of toner exposure in this cohort group, although the number of subjects was small and the level of toner exposure in this worksite was low.
authors.affiliation: Department of Work Systems and Health, Institute of Industrial Ecological Science, University of Occupational and Environmental Health, Japan.
authors.forename: Kazunori
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Ikegami
authors.forename: Masayuki
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Hasegawa
authors.forename: Hajime
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Ando
authors.forename: Koichi
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Hata
authors.forename: Hiroko
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Kitamura
authors.forename: Akira
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Ogami
authors.forename: Toshiaki
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Higashi
mesh_terms: D000395:Air Pollutants, Occupational / Q000009:adverse effects*; D015415:Biomarkers / Q000032:analysis; D015331:Cohort Studies; D003308:Copying Processes; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D006801:Humans; D008168:Lung / Q000187:drug effects*; D008297:Male; D008420:Manufactured Materials; D012129:Respiratory Function Tests; D012140:Respiratory Tract Diseases / Q000139:chemically induced*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires
chemical_list: D000395:Air Pollutants, Occupational; D015415:Biomarkers