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Published on: August 25, 2017
Smoking and pollution cause an increase in expired carbon monoxide in kiosk workers
L Sichletidis1, D Chloros, T Konstantinidis
1Laboratory for the Investigation of Environmental Diseases, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki (A.U.TH), Thessaloniki, Greece sichlet@med.auth.gr
Background:
The measurement of expired carbon monoxide (CO) is a direct and non-invasive method for the detection of exposure to CO.
Objective:
Our aim was to investigate the impact ofatmospheric pollution and smoking on expired CO in kiosk workers in Thessaloniki, Greece.
Methods:
Twenty kiosks were selected in the commercial centre of city. The workers were all men aged 30.5 +/- 5.5 years. Measurements of expired CO and environmental CO were carried out twice per day, during two different seasons of the year, summer and winter. Expired CO was measured via a MicroCOMeter equipped with a fuel cell type electrochemical sensor. The CO levels in ambient air were determined using the method of Non-Dispersive Infra-Red analysis.
Results:
Ambient CO levels were 2.11 +/- 0.64 ppm at h. 17:00 and 3.64 +/- 1.45 at h. 21:00 in winter and 1.26 +/- 0.17 ppm at h. 17:00 and 1.73 +/- 0.22 at h. 21:00 in summer. Expired CO in non-smokers was 3.2 +/- 2.7 ppm at h. 17:00 and 4.2 +/- 3.2 at h. 21:00 in winter and 1.3 +/- 1 ppm at h. 17:00 and 2.2 +/- 1.4 at h. 21:00 in summer. In smokers it was +/- 5.2 ppm at h. 17:00 and 13.9 +/- 7.5 at h. 21:00 in winter and 10 +/- 4.8 ppm at h. 17:00 and 18 +/- 7 at h. 21:00 in summer. All these differences were statistically significant. The concentrations of expired CO were significantly correlated with the number of the cigarettes smoked.
Conclusions:
The levels of expired CO in kiosk workers increase mainly due to smoking and to a lesser degree due to environmental pollution.
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