الفهرس 
INTRODUCTIONOnly 14 pages are availabe for public view
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Abstract
With rapid urbanization and economic development, occupational health hazards have grown as one of the major public health challenges. Many groups in the society are at great developing adverse consequences owing to their working environment, one group is the gasoline station workers. They, by virtue of their occupation, are continuously exposed to the noxious chemical compounds present in gasoline. Air pollutants from motor vehicles, surrounding area, and long-term exposure to gasoline vapour have been blamed to affect the different physiological systems in the body namely respiratory system, blood counts, and thyroid gland.
Gasoline is a mixture of volatile organic hydrocarbons containing certain amounts of benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene, and xylene (BTEX). Gasoline is produced from petroleum in the refining process, and it is a colorless, pale brown or pink liquid, very flammable, it catches on fire quite easily, evaporates quickly, and forms an explosive mixture with air.
The most likely way for exposure to gasoline is by breathing at a service station. Workers at service station are at a great risk of exposure to gasoline vapors every day with high ambient concentrations. Many of the harmful effects of exposure to gasoline are due to existence of the chemical substances in the gasoline mixture, wherever; inhaling large amounts of gasoline may cause death. People constantly exposed to gasoline leaks have complained of severe nausea, bleeding, memory losses, dizziness and even partial seizures causing fatal heart attacks, and rashes and redness of skin. The hematopoietic system is highly sensitive to most of the air pollutants, which are reaching the blood very fast. Toxic materials from air leads to significant damages to red blood cells causing aplastic anemia. The long exposure to gasoline has direct effect on thyroid hormone, wherever; some specific chemicals have a direct effect on thyroid gland resulting in genetic damage that leads to cell transformation and tumor formation.
Hence, the present study is carried out to explore the effects of gasoline vapors on pulmonary function, complete blood cells′ count, and thyroid hormones function among the gasoline fuel filling workers considering employees of administrative departments of the High Institute of Public Health (HIPH) of Alexandria University, Egypt a control group.
A cross sectional study of 100 gasoline filling and administrative workers was carried out between January 1, 2016 and January 1, 2017. There were 100 workers (fifty workers at gasoline stations from Libya-Oil Company; and fifty employees at (HIPH). The methods and techniques used for data collection were a structured questionnaire, laboratory investigations (complete blood cells′ count (CBC), and thyroid hormones function tests) , pulmonary function tests (PFT) , physical measurements (weight, height, pulse rate, systolic and diastolic blood pressures), and environmental measurements (benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene, and xylene as well as carbon monoxide).
The general objective of the study was to assess the impact of some environmental pollutants on some physiological functions among gasoline filling stations workers in Alexandria-Egypt.
• There is a statistically significant difference considering the respiratory symptoms of sputum and tachypnea when making strenuous exertion among the workers of the case group (p= 0.017, 0.006) respectively. There is no statistically significant difference of the respiratory symptoms among the controls.
• The highest value of pulmonary function tests is statistically significant difference among the workers of the case group (MEF75%, and MEF50%; p=0.016 for both of them). While, there is no statistically significant difference of pulmonary function tests among the controls.
• The present study reports association of all symptoms with both restrictive lung disease and lung pattern of small airway obstruction. It is found that 28% (n=14) of the exposed workers have a small airway obstruction, 24% (n=12) have a restrictive lung, and 26% (n=13) have normal pulmonary function tests. Regarding the workers of the control group, 90% (n=45) of them have normal pulmonary function tests, and only 6% (n=3) have a small airway obstruction.
• The environmental measures of benzene concentration exceed the threshold limits of exposure for Egyptian (TLV-TWA) in all stations [10.2-17.0 (13.6)], [40.7-60.1 (50.4)], [17.2-30.0 (23.6)], [12.8-20.0 (16.4)], and [11.9-24.5 (18.2)] for Borj-Alarab, Alhanovil, Mierghim, Wahet Omar, and Abies gasoline filing stations respectively.
• Although, the rest of the concentrations, are not exceeding Egyptian TLV-TWA, the highest level of pollutants′ concentrations occurs in Alhanovil station due to its geographic location as it is located on a highly traffic road, reporting the highest concentration of pollutants especially benzene, xylene, and carbon monoxide; [40.7– 60.1 (50.4)], [32.0-40.4 (36.2)], and [4.4-8.0 (6.2)] mg/m3 respectively. In addition Wahet Omar station reports the highest concentration of ethylbenzene [25.0-36.2 (30.6)] mg/m3. Considering Abies station, the highest concentration of toluene is reported as [9.8-23.0 (16.4)] mg/m3. There is no clear reason for high concentrations of ethylbenzene and toluene in wahet Omar and Abies stations. This may be due to the limitation’s of the number of measurements taken.
• There is a statistically significant difference between the duration of employment (years) and some parameters of PFTs namely FEV1, PEFR and MEF25% among the workers of the case group (P = 0.011, 0.005 and 0.010 respectively). Otherwise, there is no statically significant difference between the duration of employment and the different parameters of PFTs among the controls.
• There is a statistically significant difference between the duration of employment and some parameters of CBC test especially haemoglobin level and the platelets count among the case group (P = 0.007 and 0.003 respectively). While, there is no statically significant difference between the duration of employment and the parameters ofCBC test among the controls.
• There is a statically significant difference between some parameters of the thyroid hormones function test (especially Total T3 and TSH) and the duration of employment (P = 0.05 and 0.005 respectively) among the cases. While, there is no statistically significant difference between the duration of employment and results of the thyroid hormones function test among the controls.
• There is a statistically significant difference between the period of exposure (hours/week) and some parameters of PFTs namely FEV1, and PEFR among the cases (P = 0.015, and 0.018 respectively). Otherwise, there is no statically difference significant between the period of exposure and the different parameters of PFTs among the controls.
• The difference between the period of exposure and some parameters of CBC test especially the platelets′ count among the workers of the case group is statistically significance where the P value is 0.003. While, there is no statistically significant difference between the period of exposure and some parameters of CBC test among the controls.
• There is a statically significant difference between some parameters of the thyroid hormones function test (Total T3 and TSH) and the period of exposure (P = 0.005 and 0.046 respectively) among the cases. While there is no statistically significant difference between the period of exposure and results of the thyroid hormones function test among the controls.
• There is a statistically significant difference between the age (years) and some parameters of PFTs namely MEF, PEFR, MEF50% and MEF75% among the workers of the case group (P = 0.021, 0.018, 0.015 and 0.003 respectively). Otherwise, there is no statically significant difference between the age and the different parameters of PFTs among the workers of the control one.
• The difference between the age and some parameters of CBC test especially heamoglobin level, the platelets count, and WBCs′ Count among the cases is statistically significant difference (P = 0.047, 0.018, and 0.041 respectively). While there is no statistically significant difference between the age and results of CBC test among the controls.
• There is a statically significant difference between some parameters of the thyroid hormones function test (especially Total T4) and the age, where the P value is 0.007 among the workers of the workers of the case group. While there is no statistically significant difference between the age and results of the thyroid hormones function test among the workers of the control one.
• There is a statically significant difference for some parameters of physical measurements (especially pluse rate, P= 0.013) among the workers of the case group. While, there is no statistically significant difference results of some parameters of physical measurements among the workers of the control one.
• There is a strong statistically significant difference between the concentrations of pollutants (especially benzene, xylene, ethylbenzene, and carbon monoxide) and some parameters of PFTs namely MEF, MEF25%, PEFR, and FEV1, (P = 0.779, 0.799, 0.822, 0.967, and 0.876 respectively) among the workers of the case group. Otherwise, there is no statically significant difference between the concentrations of pollutants and parameters of PFTs among the controls.
• There is a week statistically significant difference between the concentrations of pollutants and some parameters of CBC test among the workers of the case group. While there is no statistically significant difference between the concentrations of pollutants and parameters of CBC test among the controls.
• There is an intermediate statistically significant difference between the concentrations of pollutants (especially Carbone monoxide) and some parameters of thyroid hormones function test (Total T4, p=0.019) among the workers of the case group. While there is no statistically significant difference between the concentrations of pollutants and parameters of thyroid hormones function test among the controls.
The impact of some environmental pollutants on some physiological functions among gasoline filling workers in Alexandria-Egypt was declared, and the present study recommend the following:
1. Development of the intervention of policy makers and stakeholders to take necessary steps to reduce the emissions of pollutants in the gasoline filling stations by preventing spillage of gasoline on the ground,…etc.
2. Control strategies should be adopted to reduce the vapor concentration in the ambient air, to protect gasoline-filling workers, and people whom living nearby, at least by using personal protective equipment (PPE) for gasoline filling workers.
3. Programs should be proposed to prevent adverse health effects among gasoline filling workers by the employers.
4. Establishing awareness programs targeting different levels of social, cultural, and administrative of population.
5. Consolidate and strengthen efforts to implement legislation to reduce and mitigate the harmful effects of exposure to pollutant gases.
6. Medical observation including pre-employment and periodic check-ups for pulmonary function tests, blood count cells test, and thyroid hormones test should be performed.
7. Obligatory regulations should be directed to restrict the number of shift′s hours to be eight hours.
8. Further studies should be done on a bigger scale to explore definitely the impact of exposure to gasoline and its components on the workers of filling station as well as the community.