Assessment of exposure to polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in engine rooms by measurement of urinary 1-hydroxypyrene

Our plain-English summary of Assessment of exposure to polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in engine rooms by measurement of urinary 1-hydroxypyrene, by B.E. Moen, R. Nilsson, R. Nordlinder, et al (Occupational and Environmental Medicine, 1996).

The study

• Authors: B.E. Moen, R. Nilsson, R. Nordlinder, S. Ovrebø, K. Bleie, A.H. Skorve, B.E. Hollund
• Journal: Occupational and Environmental Medicine
• Published: 1996;53(10):692-6
• Cited by: 36 articles, as counted by NIH iCite
• Read it: PubMed · Publisher · Free full text

Abstract

Objective: Machinists have an increased risk of lung cancer and bladder cancer, and this may be caused by exposure to carcinogenic compounds such as asbestos and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in the engine room. The aim of this study was to investigate the exposure of engine room personnel to PAHs, with 1-hydroxypyrene in urine as a biomarker.

Methods: Urine samples from engine room personnel (n = 51) on 10 ships arriving in different harbours were collected, as well as urine samples from a similar number of unexposed controls (n = 47) on the same ships. Urinary 1-hydroxypyrene was quantitatively measured by high performance liquid chromatography. The exposure to PAHs was estimated by a questionnaire answered by the engine room personnel. On two ships, air monitoring of PAHs in the engine room was performed at sea. Both personal monitoring and area monitoring were performed. The compounds were analysed by gas chromatography of two types (with a flame ionisation detector and with a mass spectrometer).

Results: Significantly more 1-hydroxypyrene was found in urine of personnel who had been working in the engine room for the past 24 hours, than in that of the unexposed seamen. The highest concentrations of 1-hydroxypyrene were found among engine room personnel who had experienced oil contamination of the skin during their work in the engine room. Stepwise logistic regression analysis showed a significant relation between the concentrations of 1-hydroxypyrene, smoking, and estimated exposure to PAHs. No PAHs were detected in the air samples.

Conclusion: Engine room personnel who experience skin exposure to oil and oil products are exposed to PAHs during their work. This indicates that dermal uptake of PAHs is the major route of exposure.

In plain English

This study measured exposure to polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), not asbestos. Asbestos appears only as background on cancer risk among machinists. The authors collected urine from 51 engine room personnel and 47 unexposed crew members (controls) on 10 ships. The ships were arriving in Norwegian and Swedish harbours or were at a French shipyard. The authors measured 1-hydroxypyrene, a breakdown product of the PAH pyrene, and estimated each person's exposure over the past 24 hours from a questionnaire. Engine room personnel had significantly higher urinary 1-hydroxypyrene than controls. Among non-smokers, those whose skin had been contaminated with oil had significantly higher levels than unexposed non-smokers (P = 0.01). Non-smokers who had only worked in the engine room did not differ significantly from unexposed non-smokers. In a regression analysis, both estimated exposure and smoking were significantly related to 1-hydroxypyrene, while age was not. No PAHs were detected in 16 air samples from two passenger ships. The authors concluded that dermal uptake of PAHs may occur during engine room work. They noted that the air sampling periods were short.

We wrote this plain-English summary from the full article with the help of AI, and a second AI model checked each sentence against the article. It is not the authors' wording; the abstract and the article are their own account.

What the study did and found

• Design: Cross-sectional exposure study comparing urinary 1-hydroxypyrene in engine room personnel and unexposed crew on the same ships, with air monitoring on two ships
• Who was studied: 98 seamen on 10 ships (five arriving in a Norwegian harbour, four in a Swedish harbour, one at a shipyard in France), built between 1956 and 1993: 51 engine room personnel and 47 controls from the same crews who did not work with oil or other PAH sources. The control group was older than the exposed groups (Mann-Whitney test; the P value is printed with a damaged decimal as '0 02').
• Exposure: PAHs from work with oil and oil products in engine rooms, estimated by questionnaire for the past 24 hours. Groups were unexposed; exposed degree I (worked in the engine room); and exposed degree II (worked in the engine room and had oil contamination of the skin). Asbestos was not measured.
• Main results:
  • Personnel who had worked in the engine room in the past 24 hours (degrees I and II combined) had significantly higher urinary 1-hydroxypyrene than unexposed personnel (Mann-Whitney test; the P value is printed with a damaged decimal as 'P < 0 0001').
  • Among non-smokers, the exposed (degrees I and II) showed a similar significant difference from the unexposed (P printed as '0-02').
  • Non-smokers in exposed degree I did not differ significantly from unexposed non-smokers (P printed with a damaged decimal as '0 72').
  • Unexposed non-smokers had significantly lower levels than non-smokers in exposed degree II, the group with oil on the skin (P = 0.01).
  • In stepwise logistic regression, with a cut off point printed as '0-2' umol/mol creatinine, 1-hydroxypyrene was significantly related to both exposure and smoking. It was not significantly related to age.
  • Exposed personnel on old ships did not differ significantly in 1-hydroxypyrene from exposed personnel on new ships.
  • No PAHs were detected in any of the 16 analysed air samples (9 stationary, 7 personal) from two passenger ships.
  • The authors compared their control group with the controls in a study of car repair workers. The article prints this study's equivalent values for non-smokers and smokers as '009 and 014' (decimal points lost in scanning), and the authors said these were similar to unexposed groups in other studies.
• The authors' conclusion: The authors concluded that, since oil contamination of the skin is a possible PAH source, the results indicate dermal uptake of PAHs may occur during engine room work. They also wrote that a small increased cancer risk may be present.
• Limitations the authors state:
  • Air monitoring periods were short because of the length of the shifts, which may reduce the chance of finding compounds in the air.
  • Other types of engine room work that might cause airborne PAH exposure were not monitored.
  • The health risk at the measured 1-hydroxypyrene concentrations is difficult to evaluate, because little is known about which PAH concentrations cause cancer.

Topics

Medical terms in this study, explained in our Lexicon: Lung Cancer, Carcinogenic, Biomarker, Air Sampling.

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