Characteristics of workers with long term exposure to lead
| Characters |
Participants n (%) or mean (SD) |
Non-participants n (%) or mean (SD) |
| Number | 206 | 11 |
| Male workers | 100 (48.5%) | 4 (36.4%) |
| Smoking: | ||
| Non-smokers | 134 (65.1%) | 7 (63.6%) |
| Smokers | 56 (27.2%) | 4 (36.4%) |
| Ex-smokers | 16 (7.8%) | 0 |
| Use of vibration tool (yes v no) | 12 (5.8%) | 0 |
| Age (y) | 40.5 (7.1) | 33.0 (7.3) |
| Working duration (years) | 12.6 (6.6) | 8.2 (7.0) |
| Life span in the work (%) | 31.0 (14.4) | 26.0 (25.7) |
| Height (cm) | 158.7 (8.4) | 158.2 (8.1) |
| Current PbB (μg/dl) | 28.3 (12.7) | 22.5 (14.7) |
| Max PbB (μg/dl) | 39.2 (14.5) | 32.4 (16.5) |
| Mean of PbB (μg/dl) | 31.8 (12.4) | 24.1 (12.2) |
| TWICL (μg/dl) | 32.4 (12.5) | 24.0 (11.1) |
| ICL (year*μg/dl) | 425.5 (320.0) | 189.5 (54.2) |
| VPT on hands (10−2 g) | 10.2 (6.1) | — |
| VPT on feet (10−2 g) | 19.8 (14.19) | — |
| Alcohol consumption (g/week): | ||
| 1–100 | 10 (4.9%) | — |
| 101–200 | 13 (6.3%) | — |
| >200 | 4 (1.9%) | — |
p Values from χ2 test for categorical variables and t test for continuous variables.
PbB=blood lead concentration; Max PbB=the maximum of the blood lead concentrations in the 5 years; TWICL=time weighted index of cumulative exposure to lead; ICL=index of cumulative lead exposure; VPT=vibratory perception threshold.