Occupational Exposures and Movement Abnormalities among Japanese-American Men: The Honolulu-Asia Aging Study

Abstract

Objective: The authors analyzed data on 1,049 men aged 71–93 years (excluding those with prevalent Parkinson’s disease and stroke) from the Honolulu Heart Program (1965–1968) and the Honolulu-Asia Aging Study (1991–1999) to determine whether occupational exposures to pesticides, solvents, metals, manganese, and mercury during middle age were associated with 14 movement abnormalities 25 years later. Methods: Analyses of variance and multivariate logistic regression were used to assess associations of interest. Results: After adjustment for age, BMI, cognitive functioning, smoking, alcohol drinking, education, and physical activity, there was a positive association between abnormal ‘facial expression’ and the highest exposure to metals [odds ratio (OR) = 2.62; 95% confidence interval (CI) = 1.35–5.11; trend, p = 0.02], and the highest exposure to mercury (OR = 1.91; 95% CI = 1.04–3.49; trend, p = 0.03). Age was positively associated with all movement abnormalities, and cognitive function, body mass index and physical activity were inversely associated with most movement abnormalities. Conclusion: Higher exposure to any metal, and specifically mercury, was associated with abnormal facial expression.

Associations of welding and manganese exposure with Parkinson disease

“…Of these 109 studies, 71 were excluded because they did not report results from epidemiologic association studies. Of the 38 articles retrieved, 3 were ecologic studies, 16 -18 3 were cross-sectional studies, 19 -21 13 lacked valid exposure information for welding or manganese (10 casecontrol studies, 22-31 1 cohort study, 32 1 mortality study, 33 and 1 ecologic study 16 ), 2 lacked diagnoses of PD (1 cohort study, 34 1 case-control study 35 ), 3 did not report OR, MOR, or RR (3 case-control studies 36 -38 and 1 mortality study 12 ), 1 study lacked adjustment for age differences in cases and controls, 11 and the RR in 1 study was based on an invalid data analysis. 39 The latter study, an industrial cohort study performed in Korea, 39 was based on 9 patients with PD, only 2 of whom had a history of welding.…”

Potential risk factors for incident glioblastoma multiforme: the Honolulu Heart Program and Honolulu-Asia Aging Study

“…Their jobs were assigned two three-digit occupation and industry codes according to the U.S. Bureau of the Census [8]. All unique occupation/industry combinations were identified and independently assessed by three industrial hygienists for the likelihood of exposure to pesticides (insecticides, herbicides and fungicides), metals (manganese, mercury and iron) and solvents (carbon tetrachloride and carbon disulfide) [9, 10]. Likelihood of exposure was assigned by consensus as none, low, medium, and high.…”

Mercury and Parkinson’s Disease: Promising Leads, but Research Is Needed

“…They have been drawn to this question by the prominence of tremors as a symptom of both conditions. Other symptoms that can be found in both mercury toxicity and Parkinson's disease include impaired motor coordination [ 44 ] and mask-like facial expressions [ 45 ]. In surveying the literature for examples of research on mercury and Parkinson's disease, we found the following: In 1981, researchers in Sweden selected 85 inpatients with Parkinson's disease and 72 neurological controls and asked about their occupational exposure to organic solvents, pesticides, and mercury [ 46 ].…”

“…Tey have been drawn to this question by the prominence of tremors as a symptom of both conditions. Other symptoms that can be found in both mercury toxicity and Parkinson's disease include impaired motor coordination [44] and mask-like facial expressions [45]. In surveying the literature for examples of research on mercury and Parkinson's disease, we found the following:…”