Influencing factors of urinary hydroxyl metabolites of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in coke oven workers / 中国职业医学

ABSTRACT

OBJECTIVE: To observe the levels of four hydroxylated metabolites of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons(PAHs)in the urine of coke workers and its influencing factors.To explore the feasibility of using PAHs as biomarkers for exposure of coke oven emissions(COEs).METHODS: A cross-sectional survey was used to compare 261 coke oven workers in a coke oven plant as exposure group with 111 workers without COEs exposure in an oxygen making plant as control group.Ultra high liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry was used to detect four hydroxylated metabolites of PAHs,including1-hydroxypyrene(OHP),1-hydroxynaphthalene(OHN),2-OHN and 3-hydroxyphenanthrene,in urine of these two groups.RESULTS: The levels of four hydroxylated metabolites of PAHs in urine in exposure group were higher than that of the control group(P<0.01).The levels of urinary 1-OHP,1-OHN,2-OHN were followed by the sequence of bottomoven,side-oven,and top-oven subgroups among the exposure group(P<0.05).The multiple linear regression results indicated that the levels of urinary 1-OHP,1-OHN,2-OHN were correlated with COEs exposure(P<0.05),after adjusting the confounding factors of gender,age,length of service,smoking status and alcohol drinking status.The levels of urinary 1-OHP,1-OHN,2-OHN of the exposure group increased with the increase of COEs exposure levels showing a dose-effect relationship(P<0.01).The levels of 1-OHN and 2-OHN were associated with smoking apart from COEs exposure(P<0.01).CONCLUSION: The urinary 1-OHP can be used as a reliable biomarker for the evaluation of internal exposure to COEs.The 1-OHN and 2-OHN can be used as adjuvant biomarkers.