BACKGROUND Although no human illness to date is confirmed to be attributed to engineered nanoparticles, occupational epidemiological studies are needed to verify the health effects of nanoparticles. This study used a repeated measures design to explore the potential adverse health effects of workers handling nanomaterials. METHODS Study population was 206 nanomaterial-handling workers and 108 unexposed controls, who were recruited from 14 nanotechnology plants. They were followed up no less than two times in four years. A questionnaire was used to collect potential confounders and detailed work conditions. Control banding was adopted to categorize risk level for each participant as a surrogate marker of exposure. Health hazard markers include cardiopulmonary dysfunction markers, inflammation and oxidative damage markers, antioxidant enzymes activity, and genotoxicity markers. The Generalized Estimating Equation model was applied to analyze repeated measurements. RESULTS In comparison to the controls, a significant dose-dependent increase on risk levels for the change of superoxide dismutase (p<0.01) and a significant increase of glutathione peroxidase change in risk level 1 was found for nanomaterial-handling workers. However, the change of cardiovascular dysfunction, lung damages, inflammation, oxidative damages, neurobehavioral and genotoxic markers were not found to be significantly associated with nanomaterials handling in this panel study. CONCLUSIONS This repeated measurement study suggests that there was no evidence of potential adverse health effects under the existing workplace exposure levels among nanomaterials handling workers, except for the increase of antioxidant enzymes.

中文翻译：

---

在处理工程纳米材料的工人中对健康影响的纵向随访：一项小组研究。

背景技术尽管迄今为止尚未确认人类疾病归因于工程化的纳米颗粒，但是仍需要职业流行病学研究来验证纳米颗粒的健康影响。这项研究采用了重复措施设计，以探讨处理纳米材料的工人的潜在不良健康影响。方法研究人群为206名纳米材料处理工人和108名未暴露的对照组，这些工人是从14家纳米技术工厂招募的。在四年内，对他们进行了不少于两次的随访。问卷被用来收集潜在的混杂因素和详细的工作条件。采用控制带将每个参与者的风险水平分类为暴露的替代指标。健康危害指标包括心肺功能障碍指标，炎症和氧化损伤指标，抗氧化酶活性和遗传毒性标记。广义估计方程模型用于分析重复测量。结果与对照组相比，纳米材料处理工人的超氧化物歧化酶变化的风险水平显着剂量依赖性增加（p <0.01），而谷胱甘肽过氧化物酶变化的风险水平显着增加（p <0.01）。然而，在该小组研究中，未发现心血管功能障碍，肺损伤，炎症，氧化损伤，神经行为和遗传毒性标志物的变化与纳米材料的处理没有显着相关。结论这项重复测量的研究表明，在现有的纳米材料处理工人的工作场所暴露水平下，没有证据表明存在潜在的不利健康影响，