Factors Affecting Urinary tt-Muconic Acid Detection among Benzene Exposed Workers at Gasoline Stations

Sunisa Chaiklieng, Pornnapa Suggaravetsiri, Norbert Kaminski and Herman Autrup
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Sunisa Chaiklieng: Department of Environmental Health, Occupational Health and Safety, Faculty of Public Health, Khon Kaen University, Khon Kaen 40002, Thailand
Pornnapa Suggaravetsiri: Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Faculty of Public Health, Khon Kaen University, Khon Kaen 40002, Thailand
Norbert Kaminski: Institute for Integrative Toxicology, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI 48224, USA
Herman Autrup: Institute of Public Health, Aarhus University, 80000 Aarhus, Denmark

IJERPH, 2019, vol. 16, issue 21, 1-11

Abstract: Trans, trans-muconic acid (tt-MA) is a metabolite that is widely used as a biomarker to identify low exposure to benzene, a human carcinogen. This study aimed to investigate occupational factors related to the urinary tt-MA detection of benzene exposed workers in gasoline stations. Spot urine samples were collected and analyzed for tt-MA using a high performance liquid chromatography. Additional data were collected via subject interviews using a structured questionnaire. The personal benzene concentration was measured and analyzed by gas chromatography with a flame ionization detector. Results showed that, among the 170 workers, tt-MA was detected in 24.7% of workers and the concentration ranged from 23.0 to 1127.8 µg/g creatinine. Over 25% of those detections possessing tt-MA exceeding the recommended 500 µg/g creatinine was safe. A multiple logistic regression analysis identified that factors significantly associated with the detectable tt-MA were having no other part-time jobs (ORadj = 4.2), personal benzene concentrations of 0.05 ppm or higher (ORadj = 10.3), close to fuel nozzle during refuelling (ORadj = 93.7), and no job training (ORadj = 2.74). Safety training is recommended for those tt-MA detected workers or under a reference benzene concentration of 0.05 ppm or higher. The proposed reference of occupational action level to benzene exposure is 0.05 ppm and compliance could be assessed tt-MA for biomonitoring of those benzene exposed workers.

Keywords: benzene; biomarker; exposure assessment; risk (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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