Results
The age of 403 men constituting the study group,
was varying from 18 to 54 and the mean age was
35.55±9.00. Distribution of workers with and
without high BLL in terms of various features
was presented in Table 1.
The mean BLL of workers was 3.74±5.29 µg/dL,
and while lowest value was 0.1 µg/dL, the highest
value was 36.6 µg/dL. Mean BLL of control
group consisted of 97 people was 1.29±1.13 µg/dL
compared to that of study group (t= 8.539, P<
0.001).
While no lead poisoning case was found in the
study group, there were 41(10.2%) workers who
showed high BLL (≥10 µg/dL). The people with
high BLL were not detected in the control group.
Several protective habits for workers with and
without high BLL are outlined in Table 2.
Mean duration of work per day was 8.88±1.52
hours, varying between range of 7.5 and 12
hours. One hundred and eighty and one (44.9%)
of the workers were working more than 8 hours
a day. All the workplaces had adequate ventilation
system, work wear, masks, and gloves. Except
the auto painting enterprise, again all the
workplaces had a separated cafeteria, and WCshower,
dressing rooms. Wet work method, one
of the protective measures, was seen only in 2
workplaces in the metal processing field, and
only in those workplaces MAC measurements
were being applied routinely. Initial (before admitted
to job) and periodical examinations were
being applied in all the workplaces except auto
painting enterprise.
The high BLL is mostly (%86.7) seen in workers
who work in smeltery. Distribution of workers
with and without high BLL regarding their
work branches is presented in Table 3.
By results of logistic model, The working on
smeltery, and the working on polyvynil chloride
product, and history of lead poisoning are important
risk factors for high BLL (for each one