Hematological and hepatic alterations in nonsmoking residents exposed to benzene following a flaring incident at the British petroleum plant in Texas City

Environmental Health

Research

Mark A D’Andrea¹  G Kesava Reddy¹ 

[1] University Cancer and Diagnostic Centers, 12811 Beamer Road, 77089, Houston, TX, USA;

关键词: Benzene poisoning;    Blood disorders;    Chemical exposure;    Health impact;    Hematological toxicity;    Hepatotoxicity;    Nonsmoking;    Petroleum refinery;   

DOI  :  10.1186/1476-069X-13-115

 received in 2014-08-14, accepted in 2014-11-05,  发布年份 2014

来源: Springer

【 摘 要 】

ObjectiveHuman exposure to benzene is associated with multiple adverse health effects with an increased risk of developing carcinogenesis. Benzene exposure is known to affect many critical organs including the hematological, hepatic, renal, lung, and cardiac functions. The purpose of this study is to examine the health effects of benzene exposure among nonsmoking subjects from a prolonged flaring incident that occurred at the British petroleum (BP) refinery in the Texas City, Texas.MethodsThe study included nonsmoking subjects who had been exposed and unexposed to benzene. Using medical charts, clinical data including white blood cell (WBC) counts, platelet counts, hemoglobin, hematocrit, blood urea nitrogen (BUN), creatinine, alkaline phosphatase (ALP), aspartate amino transferase (AST), and alanine amino transferase (ALT) in nonsmoking subjects exposed to benzene were reviewed and analyzed and compared with unexposed adults.ResultsA total of 1422 nonsmoking subjects (benzene exposed, n = 1093 and unexposed, n = 329) were included. Benzene exposed subjects had significantly higher levels of WBC (× 103 per μL) counts (7.7 ± 2.2 versus 6.8 ± 1.7, P = 0.001) and platelet (× 103 per μL) counts (288.8 ± 59.0 versus 245.3 ± 54.4, P = 0.001) compared with the unexposed subjects. The mean serum creatinine (mg/dL) levels were also significantly increased in the benzene exposed group compared with the unexposed group (1.1 ± 0.4 versus 0.8 ± 0.2, P = 0.001). Serum levels of ALP (IU/L) was significantly elevated in the benzene exposed subjects compared with the unexposed subjects (87.3 ± 22.6 versus 69.6 ± 16.5, P = 0.001). Similarly, benzene exposed subjects had significantly higher levels of AST and ALT compared with those unexposed subjects.ConclusionBenzene exposure from the prolonged BP flaring incident caused significant alterations in hematological and liver markers indicating that these nonsmoking residents exposed to refinery chemicals may be at a higher risk of developing hepatic or blood related disorders.

【 授权许可】

CC BY   
© D’Andrea and Reddy; licensee BioMed Central. 2014