TY  - JOUR
PY  - 2000//
TI  - Neurobehavioral performance in aluminum welders
JO  - American journal of industrial medicine
A1  - Bast-Pettersen, R.
A1  - Skaug, V.
A1  - Ellingsen, D.
A1  - Thomassen, Yngvar
SP  - 184
EP  - 192
VL  - 37
IS  - 2
N2  - METHODS: Twenty aluminum welders (mean age 33 years; range 21-52), who had been exposed to aluminum for an average of 8.1 years (range 2-21), were tested for tremor and reaction time and screened for neuropsychiatric symptoms in a cross-sectional study. The welders' median urinary aluminum concentration was 1.5 micromol/L (range 0. 7-4.8). Aluminum in air, measured inside the respiratory protection, was 0.9 mg/m(3) (range 0.6-3.8). The welders were compared with twenty construction workers matched for age. RESULTS: Welders reported more symptoms than referents did (median 2 vs. 1; P=0.047). Although the welders as a group performed better than the referents on a tremor test, years of exposure, but not age, was predictive of poorer performance. The welders' reaction times were rapid by clinical standards (mean simple reaction time (SRT): 221 milliseconds; mean continuous performance test (CPT): 364 milliseconds). Although, as a group, they performed better than the referents, there was a statistically significant relation between longer reaction times and aluminum in air (air-Al). CONCLUSIONS: The relations between hand steadiness and years exposed, and between reaction time and air-Al, could indicate slight effects from exposure to aluminum. The possibility of selection of workers with high manual skills into welding work and a possible job-related training effect, might partly serve to explain the good performance among the welders.<p /> <p>Language: en</p>
LA  - en
SN  - 0271-3586
UR  - http://dx.doi.org/
ID  - ref1
ER  -