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Impairment of color vision in aircraft maintenance workers

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Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of the study was to examine possible persisting effects to color vision in a group from the Royal Australian Air Force who had exposure to formulations containing neurotoxins during F-111 fuel tank maintenance, relative to two contemporaneous comparison groups.

Methods

Color vision was tested in 512 exposed personnel, 458 technical-trade comparisons, and 330 non-technical comparisons using the Ishihara test plates and the Lanthony D-15 Desaturated Color disk arrangement test. Participants were excluded if they failed the Ishihara test as this indicates congenital color blindness. From the Lanthony results, the type of color deficient vision (CDV) was diagnosed, and additionally, the Bowman’s color confusion index (CCI) was calculated. Regression models were used to examine whether there was an association between color vision deficiencies and F-111 fuel tank maintenance, adjusting for possible confounders.

Results

The CCI ranged from 1 to 2.8 (median 1.2, quartiles 1.1, 1.4) in the 2,600 eyes tested. Forty five percent of all participants had blue-yellow CDV in at least one eye. Deficiencies of this nature are caused by environmental exposures. Logistic regression demonstrated statistically significant differences in CCI category in the exposed group versus technical group (odds ratio 1.7: 95% CI 1.3–2.0) and a blue-yellow confusion in the exposed group versus technical group (odds ratio 1.4: 95% CI 1.1–1.7). No differences were observed between the exposed group and the non-technical group.

Conclusion

The results indicate reduced color discrimination among the exposed subjects compared to one of two control groups. The findings may be due to previous exposure to solvents among the air force personnel.

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Conflict of interest

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Faculty of Health, University of Newcastle, University Drive, Callaghan, NSW, 2308, Australia

    Maya Guest, Catherine D’Este, John Attia & Richard Gibson

  2. Department of Mathematics, Texas A & M University, College Station, TX, USA

    May Boggess

  3. School of Rural Health, University of Sydney, Dubbo, NSW, Australia

    Anthony Brown

  4. Department of Defence, Canberra, ACT, Australia

    Ian Gardner & James Ross

  5. Department of Veterans’ Affairs, Woden, Canberra, ACT, Australia

    Warren Harrex

  6. Population Research Centre, University of Groningen, Groningen, The Netherlands

    Meredith Tavener

Authors
  1. Maya Guest
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  2. Catherine D’Este
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  3. John Attia
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  4. May Boggess
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  5. Anthony Brown
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  6. Meredith Tavener
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  7. Richard Gibson
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  8. Ian Gardner
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  9. Warren Harrex
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  10. James Ross
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Maya Guest.

Additional information

This article is published by the authors on behalf of the SHOAMP study team and Scientific Advisory Committee.

Please refer the Appendices A and B for the SHOAMP study team and the members of the Scientific Advisory Committee.

Appendices

Appendix A

The SHOAMP study team also comprised:

Soozy Smith, PhD., The University of Newcastle Research Associates Ltd, The University of Newcastle, Newcastle NSW

Julie Ellen Byles, PhD., Centre for Research and Education in Ageing, The University of Newcastle, Newcastle NSW

Robert Gibberd, PhD., Centre for Clinical Epidemiology & Biostatistics, The University of Newcastle NSW

Shane Jenkins, MA (Info Tech), Centre for Clinical Epidemiology & Biostatistics, The University of Newcastle NSW

Appendix B

Members of the Scientific Advisory Committee:

Professor Judith Whitworth AC, MD, The John Curtin School of Medical Research, The Australian National University ACT

Professor Michael Moore, PhD., NH&MRC National Research Centre for Environmental Toxicology, Queensland University QLD

Professor David Roder, AM, The Cancer Council South Australia, Adelaide SA

Dr Deborah Glass, PhD., Department of Epidemiology and Preventive Medicine, Monash University VIC

Emeritus Professor Scott Henderson AO, The John Curtin School of Medical Research, The Australian National University ACT

Appendix C

This journal article has been reviewed by the Department of Veterans’ Affairs and the Department of Defence prior to publication and the views expressed are not necessarily those of the Australian Government.

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Guest, M., D’Este, C., Attia, J. et al. Impairment of color vision in aircraft maintenance workers. Int Arch Occup Environ Health 84, 723–733 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00420-010-0600-9

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