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The hematologic effects of BTEX exposure among elderly residents in Nanjing: a cross-sectional study

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Abstract

Few studies have examined the effects of environmental concentrations of benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene, and xylene (BTEX) on the hematologic system of residents near a petrochemical complex. This study evaluated the potential effects of blood BTEX concentrations on the hematologic parameters of residents in a community near a petrochemical complex (contaminated group) and another community free of known petrochemical pollution (control group). Volunteer residents were randomly recruited. Each participant completed a questionnaire and donated blood samples to evaluate blood BTEX concentrations and hematologic parameters. We found the mean concentrations of blood BTEX of the contaminated group were 1.2 to 6.7 times higher than the control group. Multiple hematologic parameters of participants were significantly different between the two study groups. Inverse associations were found for ln-transformed blood benzene concentrations with mean corpuscular hemoglobin concentration (MCHC) (β = − 2.75) and platelet counts (β = −8.18). Several weaker associations were also observed between other compounds and multiple hematologic parameters. Our results suggest that the residents living near petrochemical complexes have higher blood BTEX concentrations. Furthermore, the increased blood BTEX levels in residents are associated with the reduction in RBC counts, hemoglobin concentration, hematocrit, MCHC, and platelet counts. This study provided particularly important information for the health risk assessment of residents living near petrochemical complexes.

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Abbreviations

BTEX:

benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene, and xylene

BMI:

body mass index

GLMs:

generalized linear models

HGB:

Hemoglobin

LOD:

limit of detection

MCHC:

mean corpuscular hemoglobin concentration

MCV:

mean corpuscular volume

RBC:

red blood cell

SD:

standard deviation

VOCs:

volatile organic compounds

WBC:

white blood cell

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Funding

This study was supported by funds from the Key Talent Project for Medical Young Scholars of Jiangsu Province (QNRC2016551) and Jiangsu social development project (BE2018745).

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Author notes

  1. Qi Chen and Hong Sun contributed equally to this work.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Jiangsu Provincial Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Jiangsu, Road 172, 210009, Nanjing, People’s Republic of China

    Qi Chen, Hong Sun, Yan Xu & Zhen Ding

  2. Nanjing Medical University, Longmian Road 101, Jiangning District, 210029, Nanjing, People’s Republic of China

    Jiayao Zhang

Authors
  1. Qi Chen
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  2. Hong Sun
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  3. Jiayao Zhang
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  4. Yan Xu
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  5. Zhen Ding
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Contributions

QC and HS contributed to the study design, data procurement, results interpretation, and drafting of the article. JZ was involved in collection of the data. ZD and YX took part in the study design, supervision of the research, data procurement and results interpretation. All authors read and gave their approval for publication.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Zhen Ding.

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Availability of data and materials

The data that support the findings of this study are available from Jiangsu Provincial Commission of Health and Family Planning; however, restrictions apply regarding the availability of these data, which were used under a license for the current study, and the data are not publicly available. Data are however available from the authors upon reasonable request and with permission of Jiangsu Provincial Commission of Health and Family Planning.

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Not applicable.

Ethics approval and consent to participate

The study protocol was approved by the Ethic Commission of Jiangsu Provincial Center for Disease Control and Prevention; all study participants provided written informed consent.

Competing interests

The authors declare that they have no competing interests.

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Responsible editor: Philippe Garrigues

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Chen, Q., Sun, H., Zhang, J. et al. The hematologic effects of BTEX exposure among elderly residents in Nanjing: a cross-sectional study. Environ Sci Pollut Res 26, 10552–10561 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-019-04492-9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-019-04492-9

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