Psychological effects of occupational exposure to organic solvent mixtures on printers

Author： Böckelmann I Pfister EA Peters B Duchstein S

ISSN： 1464-5165

Source： Disability and Rehabilitation, Vol.26, Iss.13, 2004-07, pp. : 798-807

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Abstract

Purpose: Neuropsychiatric symptoms associated with long-term exposure to organic solvents have been investigated for a long time in many occupational studies. The aim of our study was to identify preclinical effects of low-level chronic solvent exposure on the cognitive performance of silk-screen printers.Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted including 38 printers which were exposed to organic solvent mixtures and 45 controls without neurotoxic exposure. The psychometric test battery included nine tests and two questionnaires.Results: The sum of scales or the total score of the PNF was also significantly (p < 0.001) higher in the exposed group than in the non-exposed. The printers performed worse in some psychometric tests than did controls. Cross validation with the psychometric performances resulted in 69.6% of participants being correctly classified (55.9% printers and 80% controls). Highly significant differences (p < 0.001) between both groups of exposed and non-exposed workers were found for the mean values of the multidimensional psychometric score.Conclusions: These results of our study proved not only that chronic exposure to organic solvent mixtures could induce a psychological effect but also that the psychological/psychometrical tests performed in this study were capable of predicting neurotoxicity.