BENZENE AND CORTISOL: RELATIONSHIP IN WORKERS EXPOSED TO OUTDOOR POLLUTION

Introduction: The purpose of our study is to assess whether individual exposure to low-dose benzene in urban air may affect the plasma concentrations of cortisol in a population of outdoor workers in a large Italian city. Materials and Methods: From a population of 1594 workers, 100 outdoor workers were selected. For each worker, a blood sampling was performed to measure benzene and cortisol. Kolmogorov-Smirnov test was used to verify the normality of distribution of the different variables. On the total sample, student T tests were performed for 2 mode variables (sex, smoke and job) and ANOVA test for variables with more than 2 modes (age and seniority). Pearson's correlation index between the variables in the total sample and after division on the basis of sex, smoking habit and manners was evaluated. Were considered significant results with p values below 0.05. Results: Our study did not show statistically significant correlations between blood benzene levels and cortisol in none of the groups studied. Discussion: Further studies are needed to confirm the existence of possible significant association between occupational exposure to benzene and cortisol levels alteration.