Neurological Effects of Environmental Styrene and BTEX Exposure in a Gulf of Mexico Cohort

墨西哥湾队列中环境苯乙烯和苯系物暴露的神经学影响

• 批准号: 10224623
• 负责人: Bok Haeng Baek
• 金额: $ 51.91万
• 依托单位: UNIV OF NORTH CAROLINA CHAPEL HILL
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 财政年份: 2020
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2020-08-01 至 2024-05-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10224623
• 关键词: Accounting; Acute; Address; Adult; Air; Air Pollutants; Area; Attention; Behavioral; Benzene; Biological; Blood; Chemicals; Chronic; Communities; Data; Dose; Enrollment; Exposure to; Follow-Up Studies; Future; Gases; General Population; Health; Impairment; Individual; Industrialization; Inhalation; Interview; Investigation; Life Style; Longterm Follow-up; Measurement; Measures; Methods; Mexico; Modeling; Monitor; National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey; Nervous System Physiology; Neurologic; Neurologic Effect; Neurologic Symptoms; Neurotoxins; Occupational; Occupational Exposure; Occupational Health; Oils; Outcome; Ozone; Patient Self-Report; Peripheral; Peripheral Nerves; Peripheral Nervous System; Petroleum; Population; Population Heterogeneity; Production; Prospective cohort; Prospective cohort study; Public Health; Recording of previous events; Research; Resources; Safety; Science; Sensory; Source; Styrenes; Symptoms; Techniques; Testing; Time; Tobacco smoke; Toluene; Vehicle Emissions; Visual; Work; Xylene; building materials; cohort; consumer product; cost; data fusion; density; ethylbenzene; experience; fine particles; follow-up; health disparity; innovation; lifestyle factors; medically underserved; member; neurobehavioral; neurobehavioral test; neurotoxic; neurotoxicity; operation; pollutant; prospective; public health intervention; racial diversity; response; socioeconomic disadvantage; study population; temporal measurement; virtual

Abstract Styrene is neurotoxic at occupational levels, but has received little study at environmental levels experienced by the general population, despite widespread exposure. Our study team has found that annual average ambient styrene levels are adversely associated with neurologic function and symptoms, including decrements in visual, sensory, and vestibular function. Exposure to styrene in the general population occurs primarily through inhalation of industrial and vehicle emissions, tobacco smoke, and off-gassing of building materials. It is produced from petroleum-derived benzene and ethylbenzene, which explains why over half of US styrene production occurs near oil and gas operations in the Gulf states. Benzene, ethylbenzene, toluene, and xylenes (i.e., BTEX) are also neurotoxic at occupational levels. The proposed study is significant because there are virtually no data describing the safety of most of these neurotoxicants at general population levels, despite widespread exposure. The objective of this study is to investigate the acute and chronic neurotoxicity of styrene and BTEX at levels relevant to the general population. Our central hypothesis is that, even at general population levels, higher ambient styrene/BTEX levels are associated with reduced peripheral nerve and neurobehavioral function and increased neurologic symptoms. We will test this in a prospective, well-characterized cohort of 23,370 Gulf state residents enrolled in the Gulf Long-Term Follow-up Study in 2011-2013—a socioeconomically disadvantaged, medically underserved, and racially diverse population with significant unexplained health disparities. This population has average blood styrene levels 2-3 times higher than those observed in the general population, but much lower than the ~25-fold higher levels typically observed in occupationally exposed populations. We have extensive information on all cohort members, from enrollment and follow-up interviews, on demographic, lifestyle, occupational, and health factors; geocoded residential histories; measured blood levels of styrene and BTEX from 965 cohort members during the last year of enrollment; and results of extensive peripheral neurologic function and neurobehavioral tests administered to 3,403 members 2-4 years after enrollment. We propose to: (1) Generate high resolution temporally- and spatially-referenced ambient (air) styrene and BTEX concentrations in the Gulf region over a 6 year follow-up period, (2) Evaluate estimated ambient styrene and BTEX concentrations against measured blood styrene and BTEX levels, and (3) Determine associations of styrene and BTEX exposures, both individually and as a mixture, with neurologic symptoms and neurobehavioral and peripheral neurologic function, accounting for other neurotoxic air pollutants. This study is innovative because we will be the first to investigate the neurotoxicity of styrene at general population levels and we will do so using state-of-the-art air quality exposure data fusion methods that have not previously been applied to styrene or BTEX. The Public Health Impact of this research is high because exposure to styrene and BTEX is widespread and these chemicals are known to be neurotoxic at occupational levels.

摘要 苯乙烯在职业水平上具有神经毒性，但在环境水平上的研究很少， 普通民众，尽管广泛接触。我们的研究小组发现， 苯乙烯水平与神经系统功能和症状，包括神经系统功能减退， 视觉、感觉和前庭功能。一般人群接触苯乙烯主要是通过 吸入工业和车辆排放物、烟草烟雾和建筑材料的废气。它产生 这也解释了为什么美国一半以上的苯乙烯产量 发生在海湾国家的石油和天然气作业附近。苯、乙苯、甲苯和二甲苯（即， BTEX）也具有职业水平的神经毒性。这项研究意义重大，因为实际上 尽管这些神经毒物广泛存在，但没有数据描述大多数神经毒物在一般人群水平上的安全性 exposure.本研究的目的是探讨苯乙烯和苯系物的急性和慢性神经毒性 与普通民众相关的水平。我们的核心假设是，即使在一般人口水平上， 环境中较高的苯乙烯/苯系物水平与周围神经和神经行为功能的降低有关 神经系统症状增加我们将在23，370名海湾地区的前瞻性、特征良好的队列中测试这一点。 2011-2013年参加海湾长期随访研究的州居民-社会经济学 弱势群体、医疗服务不足和种族多样的人群，具有显著的不明原因的健康状况 差距。这一人群的平均血液苯乙烯水平比那些在2010年观察到的高2-3倍。 一般人群，但远低于职业暴露人群中通常观察到的约25倍高水平 人口。我们有关于所有队列成员的广泛信息，从登记和随访访谈， 人口统计学、生活方式、职业和健康因素;地理编码的居住历史;测量的血液 在入学的最后一年，965名队列成员的苯乙烯和苯系物水平;以及广泛的结果 对3，403名成员进行了2-4年的外周神经功能和神经行为测试， 招生我们建议：（1）生成高分辨率的时间和空间参考环境（空气） 海湾地区6年随访期内的苯乙烯和苯系物浓度，（2）评估估计值 环境苯乙烯和BTEX浓度与测量的血液苯乙烯和BTEX水平的对比，以及（3）确定 苯乙烯和苯系物单独和混合暴露与神经系统症状的关系 以及神经行为和周围神经功能，占其他神经毒性空气污染物。这 这项研究是创新的，因为我们将是第一个调查苯乙烯在一般人群中的神经毒性 水平，我们将使用最先进的空气质量暴露数据融合方法， 用于苯乙烯或BTEX。这项研究的公共卫生影响很大，因为暴露于 苯乙烯和苯系物广泛存在，已知这些化学品在职业水平上具有神经毒性。