EPIDEMIOLOGIC STUDY OF PULMONARY EFFECTS OF FORMALDEHYDE

拟议的研究将调查短期的呼吸影响。 在幼稚的受试者中暴露于甲醛。该设计将利用 研究生的周期性受控甲醛暴露 身体解剖观察的临床解剖学体会。 该研究设计解决了许多流行病学研究的几个局限性 对呼吸道刺激物的研究，通过：提供个人定量 甲醛肺剂量的估计，研究对象没有 重要的既往接触史，收集了大量 同一组受试者的症状强度和肺功能的测定 反复暴露在甲醛中的受试者，并收集关于 乙酰甲胆碱激发和皮肤点刺试验的个体敏感性 治疗过敏症。 在加州大学临床解剖实验室进行的一项初步研究 马萨诸塞州洛厄尔分校在1990年秋季发现了显著的 三个小时内最大呼气流量(PEFR)的下降 在24名学生的实验室期间进行监测。学生们还展出了 基线PEFR略有下降，但在统计上显著低于 在为期十周的观察期内，他们被暴露在 每周三个小时的实验课程。 这两年的调查将在相同的环境下进行 试点，但采用了更详细的研究设计，允许量化 肺剂量估算和更精确的肺功能评估。 大约60名受试者将在14周的时间里接受跟踪 每周接触三个小时。将进行全面的肺活量测定 在这段时间的开始和结束时，峰值流量测量将 从头到尾都要表演。个人甲醛暴露量估计 所有的曝光期都会被设定。甲醛肺模型的建立 美国环保局使用的剂量测量将被调整以提供对 用于定量剂量反应研究的个体肺剂量。

The proposed research will investigate the short term respiratory effects of formaldehyde exposure in naive subjects. The design will utilize the periodic controlled formaldehyde exposures which graduate students in clinical anatomy experience during cadaver dissection and observation. The study design addresses several limitations of many epidemiologic studies of respiratory irritants, by: providing individual quantitative estimates of formaldehyde lung dose, studying subjects with no significant prior history of exposure, collecting large numbers of measures of symptom intensity and pulmonary function on the same group of subjects exposed repeatedly to formaldehyde, and gathering data on individual sensitivity by methacholine challenge and skin prick testing for atopy. A pilot study in the clinical anatomy laboratory at the University of Massachusetts at Lowell in the fall of 1990 detected significant decrements in peak expiratory flow (PEFR) across the three hour laboratory periods in the 24 students monitored. Students also exhibited a small but statistically significant decline in baseline PEFR over the course of a ten week observation period in which they were exposed for one three-hour lab session each week. This two year investigation would be conducted in the same environment as the pilot, but with a more elaborated study design allowing quantitative lung dose estimation and more precise lung function assessment. Approximately 60 subjects would be followed during fourteen weeks of exposure for three hours each week. Full spirometry would be performed at the beginning and end of this period, and peak flow measurements would be performed throughout. Individual formaldehyde exposure estimates for all exposure periods would be made. A model of formaldehyde lung dosimetry used by the U.S. EPA would be adapted to provide estimates of individual lung dose for quantitative dose response studies.