Lung deposition versus inhalable sampling to estimate body burden of welding fume exposure: A pilot sampler study in stainless steel welders

This pilot study evaluated the ability of a lung deposition sampler (LDS) to estimate body burden by comparing lung-deposited and inhalable nickel and chromium exposures to biomarkers of internal dose. A cohort of stainless steel welders (N = 18) wore side-by-side inhalable and lung deposition samplers for two Monday shifts and urine samples were collected preand post-shift. Samplers were analyzed for inhalable and lung-deposited nickel and chromium and urine was analyzed for the respective biomarkers of internal dose. There were statistically significant relationships between lung-deposited nickel (beta(Ni) = 0.10; 95% CI = 0.05-0.16) and chromium (beta(Cr) = 0.07; 95% CI = 0.006-0.14) and their internal dose biomarkers. No relationship was found between inhalable metals and internal dose biomarkers. In moving towards a more physiologically relevant exposure metric, the LDS can provide better estimates for the total body burden of exposure than traditional penetration-based samplers.