| HOME | HELP | FEEDBACK | SUBSCRIPTIONS | ARCHIVE | SEARCH | TABLE OF CONTENTS |
|
|
|
|||||||
|
|||||||||
From the Smell and Taste Center (M.B.A., R.L.D.) and Department of Otorhinolaryngology: Head and Neck Surgery (M.B.A., R.L.D.), University of Pennsylvania Medical Center, Philadelphia, PA; and Department of Psychology (R.B.), San Francisco State University, San Francisco, CA.
Address correspondence and reprint requests to Dr. Richard L. Doty, University of Pennsylvania Medical Center, 5 Ravdin Pavilion, 3400 Spruce St., Philadelphia, PA 19104
Background: The sense of smell can be damaged by airborne xenobiotics, including aerosolized heavy metals, reflecting the direct exposure of its receptors to the outside environment.
Objectives: To determine whether professional welders working in confined spaces exhibit olfactory dysfunction. To determine whether such dysfunction, if present, is related to indices of metal exposure associated with welding, as well as measures of neurologic and neuropsychological function.
Methods: The University of Pennsylvania Smell Identification Test (UPSIT) and a battery of neurologic and neuropsychological tests were administered to 43 welders who worked for 1 to 2 years on the San Francisco/Oakland Bay Bridge. Blood levels of Mn, Fe, Cu, and Pb were obtained.
Results: Relative to matched controls, the welders had significantly lower UPSIT scores, with a mean (SEM) of 29.51 (0.90) for welders and 36.55 (0.88) for controls. Eighty-eight percent scored below their individually matched controls. As in idiopathic Parkinson disease, the welders’ olfactory test scores were unrelated to a broad spectrum of neurologic and neuropsychological test measures, as determined by principal components analysis. Although blood levels of Mn were associated with the time spent working on the bridge, workers with the highest Mn blood levels exhibited better olfactory function than those with the lowest Mn blood levels. The basis of this paradox, which has been observed previously, is unknown.
Conclusions: Professional welders may be at risk for loss of smell function, although such loss seems to be unrelated to neurologic and neuropsychological test performance.
GLOSSARY: ANOVA = analysis of variance; UPDRS = United Parkinson’s Disease Rating Scale; UPSIT = University of Pennsylvania Smell Identification Test; WAIS-III = Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale III.
Supported, in part, by grants RO1 DC04278 and RO1 AG17496 from the National Institutes of Health (R.L. Doty, PI).
Disclosure: None of the authors has been retained by any of the participant–welders or their attorneys to serve as expert witnesses or consultants. They have not received compensation from any of the participants. Dr. Bowler was paid by the participants’ employer to conduct neuropsychological evaluations of the employees as part of State and Federal Workers’ Compensation administrative law proceedings. The welders’ workers compensation attorneys made a contribution for the medical assistants and their incidental supplies during the 2 days of the study. These welder–participants, in turn, agreed to participate in the study. Dr. Bowler has testified on behalf of some welders in the past. However, she is not an expert for the Bay Bridge litigation and is not an expert on the National MDL litigation, so as to mitigate any conflict of interest or perceived conflict of interest with her scientific work. Dr. Doty is a major shareholder in Sensonics, Inc., the manufacturer of the olfactory test used in this study.
Received December 19, 2006. Accepted in final form April 18, 2007.
| HOME | HELP | FEEDBACK | SUBSCRIPTIONS | ARCHIVE | SEARCH | TABLE OF CONTENTS |
