Objective
The aim of the research is to assess the feasibility and usefulness of a cross-selectional longitudinal study of neurobehavioural functioning in solvent -exposed workers ; the results will enable the sensibility of these methods in detecting neurotoxicant overexposure to the neurotoxic agents assessed.
The subjects selected will comprise 50 workers exposed to neurotoxic agents, from those departments in steelworks in which the heaviest exposure is expected, and 50 workers not exposed to such agents, matched on the basis of age, educational level and social circumstances. before the initial test session, the subjects will be invited to answer a questionnaire on the health/exposure relationship and will attend a training session to familiarize themselves with the computer and the general procedures.
Subsequently, subjects will be tested using the tests selected from the battery. Follow-up testing will be conducted twice during the first year and thereafter twice at yearly intervals.
METHODS AND MEANS BY WHICH THE AIMS ARE TO BE ACHIEVED
An extensive battery of automated neurobehavioural tests designed to assess verbal, spatial, motor and memory functions will be administered to each subject. Each test session will be 60-90 min in length and will be conducted by the staff of the Occupational Health Service under the supervision of the Principle Investigators. Testing will be carried out using an IBM personal computer.
Data will be stored on floppy disc and transferred at regular intervals to the MBL computer. In order to protect the identity of the individual participants, subjects' names will be coded and the coded key reside with the occupational physician. Subsequent correlational and discriminant analyses will, if necessary, be applied in order to help identify a particular exposure sub-group.
Following completion of the last testing series, a complete statistical analysis based on the results of the five tests sessions including multivariate variance and correlational analyses and discriminant analyses will be carried out.
Topic(s)
Data not availableCall for proposal
Data not availableFunding Scheme
CSC - Cost-sharing contractsCoordinator
2280 HV RIJSWIJK
Netherlands