Neurobehavioral Performance Changes of Chronic Exposure to Organic Solvents among Textile Processing Workers.
- Author:
Seon Hee YANG
1
;
Moo Sik LEE
;
Dong Hoon SHIN
Author Information
1. Department of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, Dongsan Hospital, Keimyung University, Korea.
- Publication Type:Original Article
- Keywords:
Organic solvents;
Neurobehavioral core test battery;
Neuropsychiatric symptom
- MeSH:
Central Nervous System;
Education;
Mass Screening;
Questionnaires;
Solvents*;
Textiles*
- From:Korean Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine
1998;10(2):227-239
- CountryRepublic of Korea
- Language:Korean
-
Abstract:
The study was conducted to predict the risk of chronic exposure by neurobehavioral test and to use it as a basic source of the management for workers exposed to organic solvents. The exposed group was selected from coating department of textile processing industry. The unexposed group was selected from those who visited the clinic to take an annual check-up. The author administered WHO-NCTB (neurobehavioral core test battery). Also, Scandinavian Questionnaire 16 was tested by self-administration to find the correlation between subjective symptoms and NCTB results, and to assess the availability of the Questionnaire in mass screening test concurrently. The final analysed subjects were 78 (27 in exposed group and 51 in unexposed group) workers except who had a neurologic disease or systemic disease affecting the central nervous system. In Questionnaire study, there was no significant difference in total neurotoxic symptom scores between the exposed and the unexposed group. In NCTB, the exposed group had lower mean scores than the unexposed group for all tests. When the effect by age and education were considered, there was a statistically significant difference only in pursuit timing test. This study suggests the availability of NCTB and the Questionnaire for the assessment of neurobehavioral change in workers exposed to organic solvents.
