Impact of Occupational Cement Dust Exposure on Hematological Health Parameters: A Cross-Sectional Study.

Abstract

Introduction Contact with the dust of cement consisting of toxic components brings about inflammatory damage (often irreversible) to the body of a human being. The circulatory system exhibits sensitivity to inflammatory changes in the body, and one of the earliest changes may be observed in the blood parameters like mean corpuscular hemoglobin (MCH) and mean corpuscular hemoglobin concentration (MCHC). MCHC and MCH are possibly easily accessible and affordable parameters that can detect harmful changes in the body before any irreversible damage occurs. Objectives This research aimed to seek the changes in MCHC and MCH upon occupational contact with the toxic dust of cement. Methods The execution of this research was done in the Department of Physiology, Dhaka Medical College, Bangladesh, and a cement plant in Munshiganj, Bangladesh. This research was carried out between September 2017 and August 2018. Individuals (20 to 50 years old, 92 male adults) participated and were grouped into the group with occupational cement dust impact (46 subjects) and the group without occupational dust of cement impact (46 subjects). Data was collected in a pre-designed questionnaire. An independent sample t-test was conducted to analyze statistical and demographic data like body mass index and blood pressure. A multivariate regression model was applied to note the impact of cement dust on the group working in this dusty environment. Again, a multivariate regression model was employed to observe whether the duration of exposure to this dust affected MCHC and MCH. The significance level was demarcated at p < 0.05 Stata-15 (StataCorp LLC, College Station, TX, US) for statistical analysis, and GraphPad Prism v8.3.2 (Insight Venture Management, LLC, New York, NY, US) was employed to present the data graphically when required. Results There was a reduction in MCHC by 0.58 g/dL and MCH levels by 0.68 pg in the cement dust-exposed subjects when compared to controls, but not significant (95% CI: -0.93, 2.10; p  = 0.448 and 95% CI: -0.37, 1.73; p = 0.203, respectively). However, MCHC was reduced significantly by 0.51 g/dL (p = 0.011) with the duration of exposure to the dust. Conclusion The study showed that MCHC was significantly reduced with the duration of exposure to cement dust in cement plant workers. Such alterations may hamper heme synthesis, hemolysis, and inflammatory changes in the body.