- 期刊
汞作業勞工健康危害之流行病學調查
Mercury Levels and Risk Factors in Employees with Occupational Mercury Exposure
摘要
本研究調查全省汞作業場所勞工之汞暴露濃度、健康狀況及暴露濃度與健康危害間之劑量－效應關係。從五種工業七家工廠中選出356名工人受測。220位暴露組的平均尿汞（43.6 ± 45.9 ug／l）顯著的高於對照組（24.1 ± 34.7 ug／l，n＝24），且直接接觸水銀的高暴露組之尿汞（69.0 ± 57.7ug／l，n＝70）顯著高於低暴露組（31.6 ± 33.2ug／l，n＝150）。測試98位勞工血汞發現：血汞與尿汞有正的相關。 健康檢查時未發現有汞中毒症狀如手指震顫，精神異常或牙齦汞線。在神經精神檢查方面，暴露組的記憶力，注意力測驗和數字符號測驗之異常頻率較高。但無統計上差異。中樞神經自學症狀主訴，暴露組在自覺煩燥易發脾氣、消沈悶悶不樂及記憶力衰退之異常頻率較高。 尿液常規檢查發現尿蛋白異常頻率有隨尿汞濃度增加而增加，且尿液微量白蛋白大於20mg／day頻率亦隨尿汞濃度的增加而顯著增加。而NAG酵素（N－acetyl─β─glucosaminase）則無此發現。此表示汞的早期危害在腎絲球，微量白蛋白反應此部位之傷害情況。
並列摘要
The purpose of this study is to assess the exposure levels and health effects among mercury exposed workers in Taiwan. 356 workers from 7 factories in 5 industries were selected for study. The mean of urine mercury concentrations in exposed workers (45.6 ± 5.9 ug/l, n=220) was significantly higher than in the control group (24.1 ± 4.7 ug/l, n=24). The urine mercury levels in directly exposed workers (69.0 ± 7.7 ug/l, n=70) was significantly higher than in indirectly ex-posed workers (31.6 ± 3.2 ug/l, n=150). 98 workers were positively correlated with increased urine mercury levels. Medical examinations of these workers revealed that none of them expressed symptoms of mercury poisoning, e. g. tremor, neurological defect, mercury line in gingva or dermatitis. Psychon-eurological evaluation showed that the exposed workers had higher rates of abnormalities in mem-ory, attention and symbol test than the nonexposed workers. However, the difference was not stat-istically significant. The exposed workers complained more symptoms of anxiety, angry, unhappi-ness and loss of memory. Urine examinations showed that the frequency of abnormal urine protein and urine microalbumin more than 20 mg/day was associated with increased urine mercury concentration. However, abnormality in urine N-acetyl-β-glucosaminase (NAG) did not show a trend with increased urine mercury concentrations. The results indicated that mercury exposure levels in these workers were not high enough to induce adverse health effects, except for evidence of early renal glomerural damage.