Exposures to polyvinyl chloride, methyl ketone and other chemicals

Summary

As part of the continuing assessment of the health impact of exposures in the emerging industries of Nigeria, a study was conducted to determine the relative impact of exposures encountered in four operations of a shoe factory. The health impact assessment consisted of spirometric lung function evaluations and environmental measurement for polyvinyl chloride (1.6 ± 5 ppm). The study showed that there were differences among exposure subgroups with respect to pulmonary, neurological and dermal toxicities and that these differences were dictated by the types of exposure encountered. Pulmonary toxicity was most severe in the vinyl chloride-exposed subgroup. Neurological impact was most severe in the leather and methylethyl ketone-exposed subgroup and dermal toxicity most severe in the subgroup exposed to plasticizers and stabilizers. There existed substantial deficits in lung function (forced expiratory volume, forced vital capacity FEV₁, FVC) among the subgroups relative to normal, non-industrially exposed Nigerians of similar age and height. The deficits in lung function, particularly in FVC, paralleled the variations in the prevalence of restrictive lung disease, which for the whole study group was 56.5 cases per 1000 person-years. The vinyl chloride-exposed subgroup had the highest prevalence of restrictive lung disease, 92.6 cases per 100 person-years. Stepwise multiple regression suggested that 27% of the deficit in FEV₁ was explainable by the number of exposures. The use of person-years as a denominator gives a better estimate of risk than the total number of subjects as it incorporates both the number exposed and the total exposure experience. The study has shown that exposures in the shoe factory were probably acute and underlined the urgent need for legislation to protect workers in a developing industrial economy.