A Survey of Neurobehavioral Symptoms Among Operational Workers Exposed to Mixture of an Organic Solvent (Btex): A Case Study in an Oil Refinery



Mousavie SM¹ ; Shabgard Z² ; Moradirad R³ ; Khatooni E⁴ ; Yazdanirad S⁵
Source: Pakistan Journal of Medical and Health Sciences Published:2019

Abstract

Background: Benzene, toluene, ethyl benzene, and xylene (BTEX) are categorized as the hazardous airborne pollutants that widely consumed in various industries. Therefore, the aim of this study was the survey of the neurobehavioral symptoms among operational workers exposed to the mixture of an organic solvent (BTEX) in an oil refinery. Methods: The present study was conducted on the personnel of a refinery located in the south of Iran in 2018. In total, 78 operational workers were selected as exposure group and 85 administrative staff as control group. BTEX compounds were sampled based on the methodology 1501 presented by NIOSH. In addition to, the demographical information of two groups were gathered by a questionnaire and Swedish Q16 questionnaire for long term solvent-exposed workers was applied to collect data on the neurobehavioral symptoms. Data analysis was performed using SPSS version 22 software. Results: Based on the results of the chi square test, the frequency of the positive neuropsychiatric behavior symptoms in the exposure group was significantly higher than that in the control group. The results of spearman test demonstrated that there are the positively significant correlations between the frequency of the positive neuropsychiatric behavior symptoms and the measured values of benzene (r = 0.402, P value < 0.001) and toluene (r = 0.577, P value < 0.001) compounds. Conclusion: The occupational exposure to BTEX compounds, particularly benzene and toluene, can cause the neurobehavioral symptoms in the exposed workers of the refinery. © 2019 Lahore Medical And Dental College. All rights reserved.