Blood Lead Level and Cardiovascular Risk Factors among Bus Drivers in Bangkok, Thailand

Abstract

This study aimed to clarify the role of blood lead level (Pb-B) as one of the cardiovascular risk factors. To evaluate the cardiovascular risk the second derivative finger photoplethysmogram (SDPTG) was used. The subjects comprised of 420 male bus drivers in Thailand. The subjects' age ranged from 20 to 60 yr. Mean age (± standard deviation) were 41.6 (± 7.7) yr. Mean working years was 8.8 (± 6.8) yr. Pb-B ranged from 2.5 to 16.2 µg/dl with the mean Pb-B of 6.3 (± 2.2) µg/dl. The mean of aging index of SDPTG (SDPTG-AI) were -0.50 (± 0.30). The SDPTG-AI increases with age, Pb-B, smoking and alcohol consumption. There was significant correlation between Pb-B and SDPTG-AI after controlling for age, body mass index and lifestyle factors. These results suggest that Pb-B is possibly an independent cardiovascular risk factor for bus drivers exposed to lower level of lead.

Central hemodynamics in relation to low-level environmental lead exposure

“…Few previous studies addressed the potential association of arterial stiffness with lead exposure [9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19]. Interpretation of these studies is difficult, because most focused on the occupational exposure to lead [15][16][17][18][19], applied a suboptimal method to assess central hemodynamics [15,16], had a small sample size [19], or case-control design [15,17,18]. Four studies, all in an occupational setting, focused on central hemodynamics [16][17][18][19].…”

“…Whereas there is an abundant, albeit contradictory, literature on the association of blood pressure with lead exposure, a PubMed search using as keywords "pulse pressure" OR "augmentation index" OR "pulse wave velocity" OR "arterial stiffness" combined with "exposure" or "lead exposure" revealed only ten articles of potential relevance to the research issue addressed in this article. These studies described the association of peripheral pulse pressure [9][10][11][12][13][14], the ambulatory arterial stiffness index [15], or central hemodynamic measurements [16][17][18][19] with the lead concentration in blood [9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18], urine [15], toenails [19], or bone [10,11,13]. Our objective was to address this knowledge gap.…”

Low-Level Exposure to Lead as a Cardiovascular Risk Factor

“…Other industrial processes of relative importance included battery assembly, acid treatment and other soldering (Kim et al, 2008). Also in population of 420 male bus drivers in Thailand, with blood lead level ranging from 2.5 to 16.2 µg/dL (the mean of 6.3 ± 2.2 µg/dL), using the second derivative finger photoplethysmogram (SDPTG) as a marker of the cardiovascular risk, and allowing age, body mass index and lifestyle factors, a significant correlation between blood lead and SDPTG-AI was found (Kaewboonchoo et al, 2010).…”

Prevalência E Fatores Ocupacionais Associados À Obesidade Em Trabalhadores Do Transporte Coletivo Urbano: Revisão Sistemática Da Literatura

“…Além disso, prevenir a obesidade é uma forma de evitar outros agravos que afligem esta população, tais como mostraram os estudos que encontraram associação da obesidade em rodoviários com índice de distorção respiratória (HUI et al, 2002;HUI et al, 2006); ocorrência de acidentes de trânsito e sono ao dirigir (VIEGAS; OLIVEIRA, 2006); hipertensão arterial sistêmica (BENVEGNÚ et al, 2008;KAEWBOONCHOO et al, 2007;MARCINKIEWICZ;SZOSL AND, 2010;SHIN et al, 2013;LAKSHMAN et al, 2014;ASSUNÇÃO, 2015); hiperglicemia (MARCINKIEWICZ; SZOSLAND, 2010); aumento do nível de chumbo no sangue (KAEWBOONCHOO et al, 2010); insônia e apneia do sono (RAZMPA; NIAT; SAEDI, 2011;FIRAT et al, 2012); adoção de comportamento não saudável de controle de peso (ESCOTO; FRENCH, 2012); sintomas musculoesqueléticos (FERNÁNDEZ-D'POOL et al, 2012); sonolência (SANTOS et al, 2013).…”