Blood pressure and blood lead concentration in bus drivers

Benzene and Leukemia: A Review of the Literature and a Risk Assessment. H. Austin, Elizabeth Delzell, and I? Cole, American Journal of Epidemiology, 1988, 127(3), 419-439. The major purpose of this paper is to review the evidence, primarily epidemiologic, pertaining to the relation between benzene and leukemia. Benzene is widely considered to be a leukemogen for human beings, but its potency is uncertain. Since low-level exposures to benzene characterize many occupational settings, it is important to determine to what extent, if at all, low exposures increase leukemia risk. Moreover, the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration is attempting to reduce workplace exposures from an eight-hour time-weighted average level of 10 parts per million (ppm) to 1 ppm. This paper also includes an evaluation and critique of various risk assessments of benzene and leukemia. These risk assessments were done for policymaking and were developed to predict the leukemogenic effect of benzene exposures in the vicinity of the present occupational standard of 10 ppm.

Blood Pressure and Blood Lead Concentration in Bus Drivers. D. S. Sharp, _I. Osterloh, C. E. Becker, B. Bernard, A. H. Smith, June M. Fisher, S. L. Syme, Barbara L. Holman, and T. Johnston, Environmental Health Perspectives, 1988, 78, 131-137. San Francisco bus drivers have an increased prevalence of hypertension. This study examined relationships between blood lead concentration and blood pressure in 342 drivers. The analysis reported in this study was limited to subjects not on treatment for hypertension (n = 288). Systolic and diastolic pressures varied from 102 to 173 mm Hg and from 61 to 105 mm Hg, respectively. The blood lead concentration varied from 2 to 15 PgldL. The relationship between blood pressure and the logarithm of blood lead concentration was examined using multiple regression analysis. Covariates included age, body mass index, sex, 88

race, and caffeine intake. The largest regression coefficient relating systolic blood pressure and blood lead concentration was 1.8 mm Hg/ln (pg/dL) [90% C. I., -1.6, 5.31. The coefficient for diastolic blood pressure was 2.5 mm Hg/ln (PgldL) [90% C. I., 0.1, 4.91. These findings suggest effects of lead exposure at lower blood lead concentrations than those concentrations that have previously been linked with increases in blood pressure.

Deaths from Chronic Renal Disease in U. S. Battery and Lead Production Workers. W. C. Cooper, Environmental Health Perspectives, 1988, 78, 61-63. This report is based on an analysis of deaths in 4,519 battery plant workers and 2,300 lead production or smelter workers during the years 1947 to 1980. Causes were coded to the seventh (1955) revision of the International Classification of Diseases. There were significant excess deaths for “other hypertensive disease” (444-447) and “chronic nephritis” (592-594) in both cohorts, the standardized mortality ratios (SMRs) being 320 and 475, respectively, for the former causes and 222 and 265 for the latter. Proportionate mortality analysis, which adjusted for race, also showed elevated ratios, 241 and 388 for the former causes and 296 and 186 for the latter. Deaths from other hypertension-related diseases did not show comparable excesses. Renal cancer deaths were fewer than expected, SMRs being 4 1 and 74, respectively.

Health Hazards of Fire Fighters: Exposure Assessment. P. W. Brandt-Rauf, L. F. Falion, Jr., T. Tamntini, Cathy Idema, and L. Andrews, British Journal of Industrial Medicine, 1988, 45(O), 606-612. There is growing concern over the detrimental health effects to firefighters produced by exposure to combustion byproducts of burning materials. To assess the types and levels of exposure encountered by firefighters during their routine occupationJournal

of Safety Research