PT - JOURNAL ARTICLE AU - Elizabeth Fireman AU - Yehuda Lerman AU - Moshe Stark AU - Asher Pardo AU - Yehuda Schwarz AU - Michael V. Van Dyke AU - Briana Barkes AU - Lee Newman AU - Lisa Maier TI - A novel alternative to environmental monitoring to detect workers at risk for beryllium exposure-related health effects DP - 2014 Sep 01 TA - European Respiratory Journal PG - P1486 VI - 44 IP - Suppl 58 4099 - http://erj.ersjournals.com/content/44/Suppl_58/P1486.short 4100 - http://erj.ersjournals.com/content/44/Suppl_58/P1486.full SO - Eur Respir J2014 Sep 01; 44 AB - Objectives To describe a methodology for surveillance and monitoring of beryllium (Be) exposure using biological monitoring (BM) to complement environmental monitoring (EM).Methods Eighty-three Israeli dental technicians (DTs, mean age 41.6[±12.4] yrs) and 80 American nuclear machining workers (NMs, 54.9[±11] years) were enrolled. BM was carried out by analyzing particle size (laser technique) and shape (image analysis) in 131/163 (80.3%) induced sputum (IS) samples (Dipa Analyser, Donner Tech, Israel). EM was carried out only in the US (Sioutas impactor, SKC, Inc.). Pulmonary function testing and IS retrieval were done by conventional methods. Sixty-three Israeli workers and 37 American workers were followed-up for2 years.Results BM by IS indicated that a >92% accumulation of <5 µm particles correlated significantly to a positive Be lymphocyte proliferation test (BeLPT) result (OR 3.8, 95% CI 1.2-11.4, p=0.015) among all participants. EM showed that Be particles were <1 µm while this small fraction (0.1-1 µ) was significantly more highly accumulated in NMs compared to DTs, that it positively correlated with IS macrophages (r=0.21 p=0.01) and that it negatively correlated with DLCO (r=0.180 p=0.04) in all subjects. Years of exposure were positively correlated to the number of accumulated particles 2-3 µ in diameter (r=0.2, p=0.02) and negatively correlated to FEV1/FVC findings (r=-0.18, p=0.02). DLCO was decreased in both groups after two years of monitoring.Conclusions BM is more informative than EM in the surveillance and monitoring of workers in Be industries.The study was supported by the Bi-National Science Foundation (Israel-USA Proposal 2005060).