Prenatal exposure to fine particles and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons and birth outcomes: a two-pollutant approach.

BACKGROUND: Previous epidemiologic studies have considered the effects of individual air pollutants on birth outcomes, whereas a multiple-pollutant approach is more relevant to public health policy. OBJECTIVES: The present study compared the observed effect sizes of prenatal fine particulate matter (PM2.5) and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH) (a component of PM2.5) exposures on birth outcome deficits, assessed by the single vs. two-pollutant approaches. METHODS: The study sample included 455 term infants born in Krakow to non-smoking mothers, among whom personal exposures to PM2.5 and PAH were monitored in the second trimester of pregnancy. The exposure effect estimates (unstandardized and standardized regression coefficients) on birth outcomes were determined using multivariable linear regression models, accounting for relevant covariates. RESULTS: In the single-pollutant approach, each pollutant was inversely associated with all birth outcomes. The effect size of prenatal PAH exposure on birth weight and length was twice that of PM2.5, in terms of standardized coefficients. In the two-pollutant approach, the negative effect of PM2.5 on birth weight and length, adjusted for PAH exposure, lost its significance. The standardized effect of PAH on birth weight was 10-fold stronger (ß = -0.20, p = 0.004) than that estimated for PM2.5 (ß = -0.02, p = 0.757). CONCLUSION: The results provide evidence that PAH had a greater impact on several measures of fetal development, especially birth weight, than PM2.5. Though in the single-pollutant models PM2.5 had a significant impact on birth outcomes, this effect appears to be mediated by PAH.

Gastric cancer in Poland--a decreased malignancy due to changing nutritional habits of the population.

The paper deals with the mortality pattern from stomach cancer over the period of last 20 years in Poland. The decrescent nature of gastric cancer was discussed in the light of data regarding the food consumption over several past decades and the results of the case-control study on stomach cancer and diet. In men the mortality rates dropped over 20 years by about 50% in younger and by about 40% in older age groups. Among women the drop in the rates was slightly faster than in men with the exception of age group 40-44 years. When examining the consumption of specific food products per capita over the period of last few decades, one has to note a marked increase in meat and drop in the consumption of cereals, as well as potatoes. The case-control study showed that the high risk of stomach cancer run the people with low level of vegetable and fruit consumption. Analysis performed confirmed the downward trend in stomach cancer rates in Poland over the last 20 years and explains the pattern observed by the marked changes in the nutritional habits of the population at large.

Industrial population survey on the importance of chronic bronchitis and asthma-like symptoms in airflow obstruction.

The report includes a description of the prevalence of chronic bronchitis and asthma-like symptoms in the industrial population in an attempt to study the relationship between these two syndromes and airflow obstruction. The data were derived from the cross-sectional study performed in 4,717 male workers employed in the chemical industrial complex situated near Cracow, Poland. It was observed that the prevalence of asthma-like symptoms in the population under study was unexpectedly higher than that of chronic bronchitis. The results confirmed that there was no cause-effect relationship between productive cough and airflow obstruction but it was shown that asthma-like syndrome increased the risk of airflow obstruction. The supposed strong biologic impact of asthma-like symptoms on airflow obstruction should draw an attention to this syndrome in the occupational epidemiology of chronic chest diseases.

[Chronic respiratory symptomatology and obstructive syndrome in workers of a chemical industry]. / Sintomatologia cronica respiratoria e sindrome ostruttiva in lavoratori di una industria chimica.

The main purpose of the study was to asses the frequency and distribution of chronic bronchitis, bronchial asthma and airflow obstruction among workers employed in the chemical industry. Our special interest was focused on finding out the high risk groups in various plants and an attempt had been made to determine to what extent the occurrence of symptoms could have been attributed to the occupational exposure after excluding age and smoking habit as confounding variables. The epidemiological data concerned 4717 male workers of the chemical complex situated near Cracow, Poland. The epidemiological study covered interviews, spirometric testing and anthropometric measurements. Environmental assessment had been done done simultaneously in all occupational post over the whole chosen week in all shifts. The symptoms of chronic bronchitis and bronchial asthma as well as airflow obstruction occurred most frequently in older persons and in those being smokers. The prevalence rates of bronchial asthma and airflow obstruction was higher than in the general population of inhabitants of Cracow and this substantial excess could be attributed to the specific occupational environment. The detailed analysis performed showed in a clear way that chronic bronchitis is not a risk factor in the development of airflow obstruction but taking into account the fact that bronchial asthma had negative impact on the natural history of airflow obstruction, industrial physicians should take up adequate prophylactic measures concerning persons with asthmatic symptoms or its history in the past. The most intriguing results of our study give an evidence that styrene and methyl methacrylate develop strong harmful effect on the lung tissue.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Impact of psychosocial factors on the prevalence of headaches in the industrial setting. A case-control approach.

A sociomedical survey of 975 workers employed in an electronic instrument factory was carried out by standardized interview and aimed at defining the relationship between some psychosocial working conditions and the occurrence of headaches. The findings showed different patterns of headaches in specific occupational categories with workers exposed to different psychosocial stresses. Headaches were more frequent in those who became nervous during their work, those who were often in conflict with their co-workers, and those holding managerial posts.

The short-term effects of an intervention programme on the modifications of plasma lipids in workers. The pilot study.

The purpose of the pilot study was to determine the effectiveness of a medical intervention program in the reduction of plasma lipids in a group of hyperlipemic persons. Two groups were compared in this study over a one year period. The groups consisted of a group of hyperlipemic persons with TG levels greater than 150 mg% and a second group with plasma lipids within normal limits. The plasma lipids concerned in this study were cholesterol, triglycerides, and HDL-C. The group of hyperlipemic subjects received intense nutritional counselling while the normal subjects received only printed guidelines to normal healthy nutrition. The results of this study, confirm positive results obtained by other intervention programs. A substantial reduction in TG levels was observed in 37.7% of the hyperlipemic group while 14.1% of the normal group had considerable increases in their TG levels during this one year study period. The results of the serum lipid surveys proved the high interyear correlation for both HDL-C and TC, but a very much weak interyear correlation for TG.

Effect of smoking on serum immunoglobulins and cellular blood constituents in healthy individuals.

The purpose of this paper was to study a possible link between smoking and systemic immunological abnormalities, which could have been eventually the common ground for chronic degenerative processes Blood samples were taken from 319 apparently healthy men from 19-45 years of age. Mean values of hemoglobin were slightly higher in smokers than in nonsmokers but the difference appeared to have been insignificant. In contrast, the erythrocyte counts in nonsmokers were significantly higher. Although all types of white cells were in larger numbers among smokers only neutrophilic granulocytes and lymphocytes were substantially higher than in the group of nonsmokers. In nonsmokers mean value of IgG and IgA were about 10% higher than in smokers. The same pattern was observed for serum globulin alpha 2. The clear dose-response relationship was observed for neutrophilic granulocytes, erythrocyte counts and IgG level.