Effect of occupational aluminum exposure on the visuospatialconstruction ability / 预防医学

ABSTRACT

Objective@#To examine the correlation between visuospatial construction ability and occupational aluminum exposure among aluminum workers, so as to provide the evidence for early protection of occupational injury among aluminum workers.@*Methods@#A total of 442 workers in an aluminum factory in Shanxi Province were selected using a cluster sampling method, and participants' demographic features and occupational history were collected. The blood aluminum concentration was measured using inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS), and the visuospatial construction ability was evaluated with the Cube Copying Test (CCT) of the Chinese version of the Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA). The correlation between the visuospatial construction ability and blood aluminum concentration was examined using a multivariable logistic regression model.@*Results@#A total of 442 aluminum workers were enrolled, and all participants were male, with a mean age of (43.40±7.31) years, labor service duration of (23.64±8.35) years and a mean blood aluminum concentration of 33.87 µg/L. Of all participants, there were 206 workers with impaired visuospatial construction ability (46.61%), including 127 workers with blood aluminum concentrations of >33.87 µg/L (61.65%); 190 workers with educational duration of 6 to 9 years (92.23%), 118 electrolytic aluminum workers (57.28%), 114 workers with work shifts (55.34%), and 123 workers with a very good sleep quality (59.71%). Multivariable logistic regression analysis revealed that blood aluminum concentrations of >33.87 µg/L (OR=2.490, 95%CI 1.531-4.052), educational duration of 6 years or more (OR 0.075-0.246, 95%CI 0.015-0.622), work type as a non-electrolytic aluminum worker (OR=0.838, 95%CI 0.425-0.987), work shift (OR=1.179, 95%CI 1.078-1.435) and a very good sleep quality (OR=0.104, 95%CI 0.012-0.896) significantly correlated with impaired visuospatial construction ability among aluminum worker.@*Conclusion@#Impaired visuospatial construction ability correlates with occupational aluminum exposure among aluminum workers.