Impact of diesel exhaust exposure on urinary 1-hydroxypyrene in underground salt and potash workers.

International journal of hygiene and environmental health 2023 Jun

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Diesel engine exhaust (DEE) and some of the polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH) it contains are carcinogenic to humans (for example benzo(a)pyrene) and can cause lung cancer in workers. The objective of this study was to assess exposures to DEE and its component PAH and the potential associations between these two health hazards in a salt and potash mining population. Between 2017 and 2019, 1003 underground workers (mining n = 801, maintenance n = 202) and 243 above-ground facility workers from two German mines participated. Personal exposure to DEE was assessed in air as elemental carbon for diesel particulate matter (EC-DPM), whereas exposure to PAH was assessed in pre- and post-shift urine samples in terms of 1-hydroxypyrene (1-OHP). Associations between EC-DPM and 1-OHP were studied using linear regression models. The highest EC-DPM exposures were measured in mining workers (median 0.06 mg/m³) followed by workers in the maintenance (0.03 mg/m3) and facility areas (<0.02 mg/m3). Exposures above the current German occupational threshold level of 0.05 mg/m3 were observed in 56%, 17%, and 5% of mining, maintenance and facility workers, respectively. 1-OHP increased statistically significantly across a work shift in underground workers but not in facility workers. Regression analyses revealed an increase of post-shift 1-OHP by almost 80% in mining and 40% in maintenance compared with facility workers. 1-OHP increased with increasing EC-DPM among underground workers. However, internal exposure of 1-OHP mainly remained at levels similar to those of the German general population in more than 90% of the urine samples. While exposures to DEE above the current German OEL for EC-DPM are quite common in the studied population of underground salt and potash miners (39.5% overall), urinary concentrations of 1-OHP did not reflect these findings. Copyright © 2023 Elsevier GmbH. All rights reserved.

Citation

Swaantje Casjens, Savo Neumann, Katrin Rühle, Lisa Gamrad-Streubel, Lisa-Marie Haase, Katharina K Rudolph, Thomas Birk, Jörg Giesen, Volker Neumann, Dirk Pallapies, Jürgen Bünger, Heiko U Käfferlein, Thomas Behrens, Thomas Brüning, Dirk Taeger. Impact of diesel exhaust exposure on urinary 1-hydroxypyrene in underground salt and potash workers. International journal of hygiene and environmental health. 2023 Jun;251:114190