Longitudinal study of the effects of occupational aluminium exposure on workers' cognition.

Xiao-Ting Lu, Shi-Meng Xu, Yun-Wei Zhang, Dan Gao, Hui Yang, Jing Song, Lin-Ping Wang, Qin-Li Zhang, Nan Shang, Qiao Niu

Chemosphere 2021 May

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To explore the effects of occupational aluminium(Al) exposure on workers' cognition through a longitudinal study. The study population consisted of 276 workers in an Al factory. In 2014, we used inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) to determine the plasma aluminium (P-Al) concentration of the workers, and a combined questionnaire to test the workers' cognitive function. Followed-up in 2016, the workers were tested again for cognitive function. Generalized linear regression was used to assess the association between P-Al concentration and cognitive scores, and multivariable logistic regression was used to assess the risk of cognitive decline caused by Al exposure. Generalized linear regression results showed that a non-significant association was found between the P-Al concentration and cognitive test scores (P > 0.05) in 2014. Two years later, each 10-fold increase in P-Al concentration was inversely associated with the score of Mini-Mental state examination (MMSE) (β: -0.53, 95% CI: -0.86, -0.20) and Fuld object memory evaluation (FOME) (β: -0.93, 95% CI: -1.62, -0.24). Each 10-fold increase in P-Al concentration was inversely associated with MMSE2016-2014 (β: -0.38, 95% CI: -0.74, -0.01) and FOME2016-2014 (β: -1.20, 95% CI: -1.95, -0.45). There was a statistically significant difference in the average annual rate of change of MMSE and FOME with the tertile of P-Al concentration increase (P < 0.05). The multivariable logistic regression results showed that as the P-Al concentration increased, the risk of a FOME score decline increased (Ptrend = 0.009). Continuous occupational Al exposure can damage workers' overall cognitive ability, especially episodic memory function. Copyright © 2021 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Citation

Xiao-Ting Lu, Shi-Meng Xu, Yun-Wei Zhang, Dan Gao, Hui Yang, Jing Song, Lin-Ping Wang, Qin-Li Zhang, Nan Shang, Qiao Niu. Longitudinal study of the effects of occupational aluminium exposure on workers' cognition. Chemosphere. 2021 May;271:129569