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: 10630353
• 负责人: Bok Haeng Baek
• 金额: $ 43.4万
• 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/10630353
• 关键词: Accounting; Acute; Address; Adult; Area; Attention; Behavioral; Benzene; Biological; Blood; Central Nervous System; 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 Examination; Neurologic Symptoms; Neurotoxins; Occupational; Occupational Exposure; 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; manufacture; medically underserved; member; neurobehavioral; neurobehavioral test; neurotoxic; neurotoxicity; off-gassing; 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.

抽象的 苯乙烯在职业水平上是神经毒性的，但在经历的环境水平上几乎没有研究 总体，目的地宽度暴露。我们的学习团队发现年平均环境 不幸的是，苯乙烯水平与神经功能和符号有关，包括减少 视觉，感觉和前庭功能。一般人口中暴露于苯乙烯的主要发生 吸入工业和车辆排放，烟草烟雾以及建筑材料的瓦解。它是生产的 从石油衍生的苯和乙烯苯，这解释了为什么超过一半的苯乙烯生产 发生在海湾州的石油和天然气运营附近。苯，乙烯，甲苯和木糖烯（即， BTEX）在职业水平上也是神经毒性。拟议的研究很重要，因为实际上有 没有数据描述大多数这些神经毒性在一般人群水平上的安全性，目的地宽度 接触。这项研究的目的是研究苯乙烯和BTEX的急性和慢性神经毒性 在与普通人群有关的水平上。我们的核心假设是，即使在一般人口水平上， 较高的环境苯乙烯/BTEX水平与降低的周围神经和神经行为功能有关 并增加了神经系统症状。我们将以23,370海湾的预期，良好的同类队列进行测试 在2011 - 2013年参加海湾长期随访研究的州居民 - 社会经济上 处于弱势群体，服务不足和大致多样化的人口，具有明显的意外健康 差异。该人群的血液苯乙烯水平平均比在 一般人群，但远低于近距离暴露的约25倍高的水平 人群。我们有有关所有队列成员的广泛信息，从入学和后续采访中， 关于人口，生活方式，占领和健康因素；地理编码的居民历史；测量的血液 在入学期间，来自965个队列成员的苯乙烯和BTEX水平；和广泛的结果 外周神经系统功能和神经行为测试2 - 4年后给予3,403个成员 注册。我们建议：（1）暂时和空间引用的环境（空气）产生高分辨率 在6年的随访期内，海湾地区的苯乙烯和BTEX浓度，（2）评估估计 环境苯乙烯和BTEX浓度针对测得的血苯乙烯和BTEX水平，（3）确定 苯乙烯和BTEX暴露的关联，无论是单独还是作为混合物，具有神经系统症状 以及神经行为和周围神经系统功能，考虑了其他神经毒性空气污染物。这 研究具有创新性，因为我们将是第一个研究普通人群苯乙烯神经毒性的人 级别，我们将使用以前没有的最先进的空气质量曝光数据融合方法 被应用于苯乙烯或BTEX。这项研究的公共卫生影响很高，因为接触 苯乙烯和BTEX是广泛的，这些化学物质在职业水平上是神经毒性的。