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WORK SITE CLINICAL AND NEUROBEHAVIORAL ASSESSMENT OF SOLVENT EXPOSED MICROELECTRONICS WORKERS
Citation:
Broadwell, D., M. Dennis, J. Darcey, H. Hudnell, W. Boyes, AND D. Otto. WORK SITE CLINICAL AND NEUROBEHAVIORAL ASSESSMENT OF SOLVENT EXPOSED MICROELECTRONICS WORKERS. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Washington, D.C., EPA/600/J-95/353.
Description:
A group of 25 workers currently (5), or formerly (20), involved in the manufacture of hybrid microcircuits underwent clinical evaluations at the request of a management-union committee concerned about chronic solvent exposures in a research and development laboratory. attery of neurobehavioral tests was also administered to compare the solvent-exposed group of workers with 32 age-, gender-, ethnicity-, and education-matched controls. he tests included: MPI-I, hand grip strength, tactile sensitivity, dexterity, color discrimination, visual acuity and contrast sensitivity, and tests selected from the computerized Neurobehavioral Evaluation System (NES2). Clinical narratives and retrospective exposure assessments in the study group suggested chronic low-level exposure to solvents, with intermittent acute excursions. ork-related diagnoses included upper respiratory mucosal irritation and sinusitis (44%), lower respiratory reactive airway disease (12%), and dermatitis (5%). hree workers (12%) had findings consistent with a solvent-induced encephalopathy. ignificant differences (after Bonferroni correction) were found between the two groups on 5 of 11 NES subtests: symptom scale, mood scale, finger tapping, simple reaction time, and symbol-digit substitution. ifferences also researched significance for overall vibration sensitivity thresholds, visual contrast sensitivity, and grip strength. he MMPI average clinical scale elevation was significantly higher in the exposed group than controls. hese results support an association between chronic low-dose solvent exposure and measurable neurobehavioral changes.