PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - Xiaojiang Tang
AU  - Nanchun Li
AU  - Lisha Kang
AU  - Amber M Dubois
AU  - Zhihong Gong
AU  - Banghua Wu
AU  - Guanchao Lai
AU  - Aichu Yang
AU  - Xiaoling Ruan
AU  - Hongbin Gao
AU  - Guanghua Zhu
AU  - Yichen Ge
AU  - Jinxin Zhang
AU  - Zhongning Lin
AU  - James R Olson
AU  - Xuefeng Ren
TI  - Chronic low level trimethyltin exposure and the risk of developing nephrolithiasis
AID  - 10.1136/oemed-2012-101261
DP  - 2013 Aug 01
TA  - Occupational and Environmental Medicine
PG  - 561--567
VI  - 70
IP  - 8
4099  - http://oem.bmj.com/content/70/8/561.short
4100  - http://oem.bmj.com/content/70/8/561.full
SO  - Occup Environ Med2013 Aug 01; 70
AB  - Objectives Nephrolithiasis (kidney stones) is a common disease with the prevalence that is increasing globally. We previously found that trimethyltin (TMT), a by-product of plastic stabilisers, can inhibit the H+/K+ ATPase activity in renal intercalated cells and alter urinary pH, which is a known risk factor for nephrolithiasis. In this study, we conducted a cross-sectional analysis to evaluate the impact of chronic low level occupational TMT exposure on nephrolithiasis. Methods This study included 216 healthy workers with TMT exposure and 119 workers as controls with no TMT exposure. All study participants were administered a questionnaire and underwent a routine clinical examination including an ultrasonographic screening for kidney stones. Exposures were assessed by measuring TMT concentrations in personal air samples, blood and urine. Logistic regression analysis was used to estimate the ORs and 95% CIs for the risk of kidney stones. Results TMT exposed workers had a higher prevalence of kidney stones (18.06%) in comparison with control workers (5.88%). High TMT concentrations in personal air samples, blood and urines were positively associated with increased prevalence of kidney stones in workers exposed to TMT compared with controls workers (p-trend values=0.005, 0.008 and 0.002, respectively). The length of employment in plants with elevated TMT levels (duration of the exposure) was significantly associated with the increased prevalence of kidney stones (p trend=0.001). The ORs were 2.66 for <3 years, 3.73 for 3–<10 years and 7.89 for 10+ years of employment compared with control workers. Conclusions To our knowledge, this is the first report to demonstrate that occupational exposure to TMT is a potential risk factor for nephrolithiasis.