Abstract
Objective: To estimate the prevalence of beryllium sensitization among former and current Department of Defense workers from a conventional munitions facility. Methods: Participants were screened by using Beryllium Lymphocyte Proliferation Test. Those sensitized were offered clinical evaluation for chronic beryllium disease. Results: Eight (1.5%) of 524 screened workers were found sensitized to beryllium. Although the confidence interval was wide, the results suggested a possibly higher risk of sensitization among workers exposed to beryllium by occasional resurfacing of copper-2% beryllium alloy tools compared with workers with the lowest potential exposure (odds ratio = 2.6; 95% confidence interval, 0.23-29.9). Conclusions: The findings from this study suggest that Department of Defense workers with low overall exposure to beryllium had a low prevalence of beryllium sensitization. Sensitization rates might be higher where higher beryllium exposures presumably occurred, although this study lacked sufficient power to confirm this.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 258-265 |
| Number of pages | 8 |
| Journal | Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine |
| Volume | 53 |
| Issue number | 3 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - Mar 2011 |
Bibliographical note
Funding Information:This study was funded by the DoD with oversight from the US Army Public Health Command-Provisional (USAPHC-Provisional), formerly US Army Center for Health Promotion and Preventive Medicine. The authors thank Dr Deanna Harkins and others of the USAPHC-Provisional, Robert Haines, and the DoD workers who participated in the screenings. They thank Suzanne Sinift, Christina Nichols, Phyllis Scheeler, Sandra Reese, Kerry Krause, Nicholas Hoeger, and Jill Welch for their contribution to the screening program. They also thank Drs Leon Burmeister, Patrick Hartley, and Kai Wang for reviewing a previous version of this article, as well as members of the DoD study community advisory board for their assistance with the study. They also thank the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health's Occupational Epidemiology Training Program within the Heartland Center for Occupational Health and Safety (grant T42 OH008491) at The University of Iowa for its support.
Funding
This study was funded by the DoD with oversight from the US Army Public Health Command-Provisional (USAPHC-Provisional), formerly US Army Center for Health Promotion and Preventive Medicine. The authors thank Dr Deanna Harkins and others of the USAPHC-Provisional, Robert Haines, and the DoD workers who participated in the screenings. They thank Suzanne Sinift, Christina Nichols, Phyllis Scheeler, Sandra Reese, Kerry Krause, Nicholas Hoeger, and Jill Welch for their contribution to the screening program. They also thank Drs Leon Burmeister, Patrick Hartley, and Kai Wang for reviewing a previous version of this article, as well as members of the DoD study community advisory board for their assistance with the study. They also thank the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health's Occupational Epidemiology Training Program within the Heartland Center for Occupational Health and Safety (grant T42 OH008491) at The University of Iowa for its support.
| Funders | Funder number |
|---|---|
| US Army Public Health Command-Provisional | |
| USAPHC-Provisional | |
| U.S. Department of Defense | |
| National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health | T42 OH008491 |
| University of Northern Iowa |
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health
