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Workplace
Original research
Effect of occupational exposure to antineoplastic drugs on DNA damage in nurses: a cross-sectional study
  1. Xiaohong Huang1,
  2. Chaoxian Gao2,
  3. Wenzhi Cai3,
  4. Yanling Tao1,
  5. Xiao Zhong1,
  6. Haiying Liu1,
  7. Xiaodan Hong1,
  8. Xiaorong Ding4,
  9. Hong Lu5,
  10. Wenjuan Lai4,
  11. Xiaoqing Yi1,
  12. Yeqing Gu6
  1. 1 Department of Nursing, Longgang Central Hospital of Shenzhen, Shenzhen, Guangdong, China
  2. 2 Department of Pathology & Toxicology, Shenzhen Prevention and Treatment Center for Occupational Diseases, Shenzhen, Guangdong, China
  3. 3 Department of Nursing, Shenzhen Hospital of Southern Medical University, Shenzhen, Guangdong, China
  4. 4 Department of Nursing, Peking University Shenzhen Hospital, Shenzhen, Guangdong, China
  5. 5 Department of Nursing, Cancer Hospital Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences, Chaoyang District, Beijing, China
  6. 6 Institute of Radiation Medicine, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences & Peking Union Medical College, Beijing, China
  1. Correspondence to Dr Yeqing Gu, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences & Peking Union Medical College, Beijing, China; gyq900916{at}163.com

Abstract

Background Although the therapeutic effect of antineoplastic drugs is incontestable, these agents can also potentially act as carcinogens, mutagens and/or teratogens in people. The aim of this study was to assess the effect of occupational exposure to antineoplastic drugs on DNA damage, assessed by the comet assay and cytokinesis-block micronucleus (CBMN) assay, in nurses.

Methods The cross-sectional study enrolled 305 nursing staff members from 7 public hospitals in Shenzhen who handled antineoplastic drugs, and 150 healthy nursing staff members who were not exposed to antineoplastic drugs as the control group. DNA damage was assessed by the comet and CBMN assay. Multiple linear regressions and logistic regressions models were used to analyse the effect of occupational exposure to antineoplastic drugs on DNA damage.

Results After adjustment for confounding factors, compared with non-exposure to antineoplastic drugs, exposure to antineoplastic drugs was positively related to tail moment, olive moment, tail length and tail DNA per cent, and adjusted β or OR (95% CI) was 0.17 (0.08 to 0.26), 0.18 (0.10 to 0.27), 1.03 (0.47 to 1.60) and 1.16 (1.04 to 1.29) (all p<0.05). Moreover, similar significant relationships were observed for the biomarkers of the CBMN assay. Additionally, other than age, there was no interaction between antineoplastic drug exposure and other variables for the levels of biomarkers of the CBMN assay and the comet assay.

Conclusions The present results showed that exposure to antineoplastic drugs was positively related to the risk of DNA damage in nurses. The results imply that occupational exposure to antineoplastic agents is an important global public health problem that requires urgent attention.

  • occupational health
  • toxicology
  • DNA damage
  • environmental exposure

Data availability statement

Data are available on reasonable request. Data cannot be made publicly available because public availability would compromise participant privacy. For data access, researchers can contact the Longgang District Central Hospital of Shenzhen, Shenzhen, Guangdong, China (email address: stone107@126.com).

https://doi.org/10.1136/oemed-2021-107913

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    Data availability statement

    Data are available on reasonable request. Data cannot be made publicly available because public availability would compromise participant privacy. For data access, researchers can contact the Longgang District Central Hospital of Shenzhen, Shenzhen, Guangdong, China (email address: stone107@126.com).

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    Footnotes

    • XH and CG are joint first authors.

    • XH and CG contributed equally.

    • Contributors XH, CG and YG contributed to the study conception and design; XH, CG, WC, YT, XZ, HL, XH, XD, HL, WL, XY and YG contributed to data collection, assembly, analysis and interpretation of the data; XH, CG and YG contributed to the manuscript drafting and revising. All authors approval of the final version of the manuscript. XH was responsible for the overall content as guarantor.

    • Funding This work was supported by the Shenzhen Fund for Guangdong Provincial High Level Clinical Key Specialties (SZGSP015), Shenzhen Key Medical Discipline Construction Fund (SZXK068), and the Special Project for Science & Technology of Emergency Prevention and Control of Novel Coronavirus Infection in Longgang, Shenzhen (LGKCXGZX2020007).

    • Competing interests None declared.

    • Provenance and peer review Not commissioned; externally peer reviewed.