The Dose Response Relations Between Lung Function And Urinary Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons Metabolites In Coke Oven Workers

Objective: To analyze the relationship between metabolites of polycyclic aromatichydrocarbons (PAHs) and lung function in coke oven workers, and to providescientific basis for further exploring the potential mechanism and developing thepreventing strategies of the workers’early lung damage.Methods: We measured carbon monoxide, sulfur dioxide, benzene soluble matter,particulate matters, and PAHs at different workplaces of a coke oven plant. Detailedinformation on demography and occupational health condition of912male workerswere collected. We divided these workers into control group and coke oven groupaccording to their workplaces and the different concentrations of COEs in theenvironment. We detected10urinary PAH metabolites and lung function using gaschromatography–mass spectrometry and spirometric tests, respectively. Workers whoworked near the coke ovens were classed as the exposure group, and workers whoworked in the office were classed as control group. We use the term ‘years working onthe coke oven’, which was calculated based on the occupational history of eachworker, to evaluate the time length of the PAHs exposure. Accumulative dose of PAHmetabolites was defined as the concentration of PAH metabolites multiplied by yearsworking on the coke oven.Results: the concentrations of PAHs near the coke oven were very high, while thelevels of PAHs in office area were relatively lower. Age, working years and4of thelung function indicators are lower in exposure group compared with the control group. In exposure group, a linear correlation between waist-to-hip ratio and FEV1%wasobserved (Ptrend<0.05), and with the years working on the coke oven increased,FEV1/FVC%significantly reduced (β=﹣0.156). In control group, both FEV1%andFEV1/FVC%are linearly related with age and pack-years of cigarette smoking (Ptrend<0.05). The correlation between urinary PAH metabolites and lung function wasdiscussed subsequently. In exposure group, the accumulative doses of both OHPh and1-OHP are negatively correlated with FEV1/FVC%significantly (β=﹣0.136，β=﹣0.100). Moreover, the additive effect of the accumulative dose of OHPh and1-OHP isnegatively correlated with FEV1/FVC%(β=﹣0.127, Ptrend<0.05). However, therelations between the accumulative doses of other PAH metabolites and lung functionindicators in control group are not significant.Conclusion: we observed a dose response relation between lung function indicatorsand the accumulative dose of urinary polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons metabolites incoke oven workers. Our study highlight that the prolonged exposure to PAHs maycause the early damages of lung function in coke oven workers, with phenanthreneand pyrene play the main roles.