Occupational stress among workers having exposure to lead

Background and aim: Lead has been classified as a probable carcinogen, and ambiguity regarding its toxicity persists due to limited epidemiological evidences. The aim of this study was to investigate the association of occupational lead exposure and symptoms, which indicate malfunctioning in eye, digestive system, upper respiratory tract, chest and skin among men in a case control study. Methods: Incident cases, which are occupationally exposed to lead (n = 208) and general healthy population controls (n = 64), were interviewed to fill a validated questionnaire for checking their health status. Body mass index (BMI) was also calculated. The cases consist of workers, who are employed in automobile repairing, tyre and tube maintenance, lead acid battery recycling etc. Comparison was done using t test and Mann Whitney's U test. Odds ratio was also calculated. Results: The workers were having an increased prevalence of symptoms than normal healthy controls examined throughout this study. BMI was observed to decline continuously among workers with respect to increase in the years of exposure at workplace environment. This decrease in BMI was significant in comparison to healthy controls among group of workers having more than 15 years of exposure to their workplace environment. The symptoms studied throughout this study were also observed to increase in per cent frequency among workers with increase in exposure time. Conclusion: Increase in the frequency of symptoms was observed among workers with increase in years of occupational exposure. BMI in workers was significantly declining with increase in years of exposure to work environment. (C) 2015 INDIACLEN. Published by Elsevier, a division of Reed Elsevier India, Pvt. Ltd. All rights reserved.