Investigation on the correlations between vitreo-retinal disorders and atmospheric particulate matter in individuals working in Taranto

Introduction: several epidemiological studies have already highlighted the effects that fine atmospheric particulate matter has on health in terms of increasing mortality, hospital admissions and also respiratory diseases in the cardiovascular system. The purpose of this study is to assess the possible correlation between inhalation of fine fraction of particulate matter missing in the air and disease outbreaks in vitreoretinal tract in the workplace of ILVA steel plant in Taranto. Materials and methods: from June 2013 to December 2014 were examined both 57 male individuals aged between 25 and 58 years, working at the ILVA steel plant in Taranto and 52 male individuals aged between 25 and 58 who were just residents in the city of Taranto. For each of them a complete eye examination was performed with particular reference to the posterior segment of the eye (indirect ophthalmoscopy with Schepens unit). All the examined individuals had visual acuity perfectly normal and no optic nerve lesion. All the general and ocular medical history revealed no pre-existing conditions worthy of note. It was then conducted a statistical analysis of the data obtained by means of a chi-squared test by applying the correction according to Yates, which is appropriately used when the number of observations is less than 500. The significance level considered was 5%. Therefore, they were considered statistically significant values of p <0.05. Results: during this work, statistical significance were highlighted between the two groups examined. The workers examined in 84% of cases have retinal disorders; 27% individuals had retinal disorders among residents examined in the city of Taranto. Discussion: from the resulting data can be assumed that micro-respiratory bronchiole blockages can lead to gridlock and consequent retinal venous congestion.