The effect of occupational exposure to metals on the nervous system function in welders

We explored the relationship between metals exposure and nervous impairment in welders. The metals exposure of 82 welders and 51 operators were evaluated for blood Pb, Cd and Mn by atomic absorption spectrometry, and the nervous system impairment was evaluated with the neurobehavioral core test battery and electromyography. Pb (geometric mean: 117.31 mug/L; range: 0.5-327.6 mug/L) and Cd (geometric mean: 3.54 mug/L; range: 0.2-12.5 mug/L) in welders were significantly higher than those in operators. Welders had higher prevalence of nervous system symptoms and worse standard scores of 8 items such as depression-dejection than operators. Significant difference of nervous performance in welders only existed in different concentration groups of Pb and Mn. The performances of fatigue-inertia and some others had negative correlations with Pb and digit span with Mn. Therefore, the nervous system impairment in welders could be attributed to occupational exposure of Pb and Mn, but not Cd, concomitantly.