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Purpose: Exposure to organic solvents and noise may be causal agents in the development of hearing loss and tinnitus. The objectives of the present study were to examine the association of organic solvents with hearing loss and tinnitus and to assess the interaction of organic solvent and occupational noise exposure on hearing loss and tinnitus., Methods: A secondary data analysis of data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey and Occupational Information Network (O*NET) among a study population ranging from 1085 to 2471 study participants from 1999 to 2004. Multiple multivariate logistic regression models were used to assess the associations of individual organic solvent exposures as measured by blood biomarkers (1,4-dichlorobenzene, benzene, ethylbenzene, styrene, toluene, o-xylene, and m-/p-xylene) with self-reported hearing loss, audiometrically assessed hearing loss, and self-reported tinnitus. Models were adjusted for age, gender, race/ethnicity, diabetes, non-occupational noise exposure, smoking, and income. Organic solvents found to be statistically significantly associated with the outcome after adjusting for covariates were tested for interaction with occupational noise exposure., Results: Solvent exposure was not statistically significantly associated with self-reported tinnitus. Benzene (OR 1.43, 95% CI 1.15-1.78), ethylbenzene (OR 1.24, 95% CI 1.02-1.50), and toluene (OR 1.27, 95% CI 1.06-1.52) concentrations were statistically significantly associated with increased adjusted odds of high-frequency hearing loss. No statistically significant interaction was observed between these solvents and occupational noise on high-frequency hearing loss., Conclusions: We found no evidence of an association between organic solvents and tinnitus; however, there was evidence of an association between organic solvent exposure and prevalence of high-frequency hearing loss.

A work measurement technique was used to monitor the activities of seven printing press operators. Repeated observations were made to learn workers' tasks and workers' locations in the plant, and a photoionization detector was used to measure the instantaneous solvent concentration in each worker's breathing zone. Location data, analyzed using a computer aided design system, did not show any indication that there were high or low exposure areas. Regression, however, showed that a significant amount of variability in a worker's exposures was accounted for by the number of times the worker performed a certain "hazardous task" (r2 = 0.57). The results indicate that it may be possible to simplify industrial hygiene sampling strategies by using work measurement data, such as time study or work sampling, to identify maximum risk employees.

Time-weighted average exposures for all solvents present at detectable levels were obtained for eighty-nine solvent-using workers and thirty-six control-group (unexposed) workers in seven plants of three companies applying paints and glues, primarily by spraying. Over twenty solvents were quantified if detected. Concentrations of specific solvents and cumulative fractions of TLVs were measured for various job types. All spray painting and most spray glueing was conducted in operating spray booths. Only low to moderate exposures were observed, with one TWA exceeding the cumulative TLV and three additional TWAs exceeding 50 percent of the cumulative TLV. It may be concluded that solvent TWA exposures in spraying of paints and glues are often well-controlled by common spray booths, and further, that other solvent-use operations including light-duty solvent wiping and manual paint mixing do not frequently produce high exposures (relative to TLV levels) in the presence of ordinary general room ventilation.

Reports from Scandinavia have suggested behavioural impairment among long term workers exposed to solvents below regulatory standards. A cross sectional study of behavioural performance was conducted among printers and spray painters exposed to mixtures of organic solvents to replicate the Scandinavian studies and to examine dose-response relationships. Eligible subjects consisted of 640 hourly workers from four midwestern United States companies. Of these, 269 responded to requests to participate and 240 were selected for study based on restrictions for age, sex, education, and other potentially confounding variables. The subjects tested had been employed on average for six years. Each subject completed an occupational history, underwent a medical examination, and completed a battery of behavioural tests. These included the Fitts law psychomotor task, the Stroop colour-word test, the Sternberg short term memory scanning test, the short term memory span test, and the continuous recognition memory test. Solvent exposure for each subject was defined as an exposed or non-exposed category based on a plant industrial hygiene walk-through and the concentration of solvents based on an analysis of full shift personal air samples by gas chromatography. The first definition was used to maintain consistency with Scandinavian studies, but the second was considered to be more accurate. The average full shift solvent concentration was 302 ppm for the printing plant workers and 6-13 ppm for the workers at other plants. Isopropanol and hexane were the major components, compared with toluene in Scandinavian studies. Performance on behavioural tests was analysed using multiple linear regression with solvent concentration as an independent variable. Other relevant demographic variables were also considered for inclusion. No significant (p greater than 0.05) relation between solvent concentration and impairment on any of the 10 behavioural variables was observed after controlling for confounding variables. Exposed/non-exposed comparisons showed a significantly poorer digit span among those exposed, but this has not been generally reported in the Scandinavian studies. The medical examination showed no abnormalities of clinical significance. The inability to replicate the findings of the Scandinavian studies could have been due to the shortness of the duration of workers' exposure, the type of solvents in the mixtures, use of different behavioural tests, or to selection factors.