LED製造廠員工唾液中砷濃度作為無機砷暴露指標可行性研究

Abstract

近年來由於半導體業的興盛，砷因為其類金屬元素的特性被大量使用在製程當中，使得員工有暴露於砷的疑慮。為了研究其員工是否有職業性無機砷暴露，本研究使用唾液做為生物檢體，研究唾液中砷濃度與職等之間的關係，並探討影響唾液砷之因子。 本研究配合某一LED製造公司之年度健檢，在該公司南部廠區及北部廠區共招募355名受試者，並利用問卷記錄各項人口學變項、生活習慣，及海鮮攝食量等因素。唾液砷濃度與職等之統計分析分成兩部分，第一部分使用廠方醫護人員提供之職業砷暴露情形分為暴露組、對照組(一)及對照組(二)，第二部分使用受試者問卷自答是否有職業性砷暴露以及所在職等是否有過半人數有職業砷暴露進行分組，分成暴露組、低暴露組及行政組。本研究使用感應耦合電漿質譜儀(ICP-MS)分析受試者唾液中的砷濃度。結果發現，全體受試者唾液平均砷濃度為 0.66 μg/L，問卷中回答有及無職業砷暴露的受試者平均唾液中砷濃度分別為0.65 μg/L、0.60 μg/L。本研究沒有看到唾液中砷濃度與職等之關係。唾液中的砷濃度與年資、年齡之Pearson’s相關係數分別為0.158 (p < 0.01)、0.126 (p < 0.05)，唾液中砷濃度與飲酒習慣、檳榔食用習慣之Spearman’s相關係數分別為0.142 (p < 0.01)、0.146 (p < 0.01)。唾液中的砷濃度也會隨著教育程度的提高而降低(p < 0.001)。 本研究結果顯示唾液中砷濃度與年齡、年資顯著正相關，表示年紀為影響唾液中砷濃度重要的因子。而唾液中砷濃度隨著教育程度提高而下降，則可能是由於教育程度會決定受試者之職等進而影響職業砷暴露情形。唾液中砷濃度與抽菸、喝酒及食用檳榔等生活習慣因子的正相關關係與過往文獻研究結果相 III 同。唾液中砷濃度與職等之間的關係在本研究中沒有看到，推測可能是同樣職等下不同工作內容會有不同程度之職業砷暴露，以致難以從職等看出唾液中砷濃度變化情形。建議之後類似的研究應更詳細記錄工作內容，以進一步釐清受試者唾液中砷濃度作為生物指標與工作環境中砷暴露的關聯性。

As the blossom of semiconductor industry, arsenic was used widely in the fab manufacturing process due to its metalloid properties, which therefore led to the concern of exposure hazard to workers on site. In order to characterize the association between inorganic arsenic exposure and work task, this study was conducted using saliva arsenic as biomarker to explore its association with the affecting factors. This study was incorporated into a LED manufacturing company’s annual physical examination program, and recruited a total of 355 subjects from this company’s northern and southern factories. Questionnaire was used to collect information on demographics, living habits, and seafood consumption. There were two parts in statistical analysis for the association between saliva arsenic concentration and job title. In the first part, study subjects were grouped as exposed group, control I, and II groups, based on the judgement of the occupational nurse of this company. In the second part, we combined job title along with arsenic exposure information collected using questionnaire to divide the study subjects into exposed group, low exposed group, and administration group. This study used inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) to analyze arsenic concentration in the saliva samples of the study subjects. Results showed that average saliva arsenic concentration of all subjects was 0.66 μg/L, average saliva arsenic concentration of subjects with and without occupational arsenic exposure was 0.65 μg/L, and 0.60 μg/L, respectively. Though there was no significant association between saliva arsenic level and job title, there were positive correlations of saliva arsenic concentration with work seniority (r= 0.158, p< 0.01), workers’ age (r= 0.126, p< 0.05), alcohol drinking (r= 0.142, p< V 0.01), and betel nut chewing (r= 0.146, p< 0.01), respectively. However, saliva arsenic concentration significantly decreased with higher education level. In this study, significantly positive association of saliva arsenic level with work seniority and workers’ age suggested age-related factors were important to saliva arsenic concentration. Besides, negative association of saliva arsenic concentration with higher education level could be attributed to that study subjects with higher education level would work at higher job title, with relatively low arsenic exposure. Positive relationship between saliva arsenic concentration and living habits such as smoking, alcohol drinking, betel nut chewing was in accordance with previous studies’ finding. No significant association between saliva arsenic concentration and job title could probably be attributed to that various work tasks under the same job title might cause the misclassification of arsenic exposure based on job title. Further study with precise and detailed arsenic exposure history is anticipated in order to classify the relationship of saliva arsenic concentration, as biological marker, with worker’s occupational arsenic exposure.