Cytogenetic analysis of an exposed-referent study: perchloroethylene-exposed dry cleaners compared to unexposed laundry workers

Table 1 Data Summary.

*Demographics*	Laundry Workers	Dry Cleaners
Facilities	3 ^a	4
Workers	18 ^a	18
Race, Caucasian/African American	12/6	13/5
Current smokers	10	10
Age	39 ± 9 ^b	40 ± 13
*Exposure Indices*
PCE TWA (ppm) ^c	<0.02	3.8 ± 5.3
Pre-shift end-exhaled PCE (ppm) ^d	--	0.45 ± 0.33
Post-shift end-exhaled PCE (ppm) ^d	--	1.21 ± 0.87
Blood PCE	0.19 ± 0.44 μg/l	74.81 ± 104.27 μg/l ^e
Pack years^f	8.44 ± 11.32	13.13 ± 12.0
Lifetime number of drinks^g	1,106 ± 2,609	6,382 ± 18,144

^a Values are number of facilities that contributed participants to this study, workers who are Caucasian or African American, and number of smokers. 20 laundry workers were recruited but only the 18 who donated blood specimens are included here.
^b All values are mean ± SD.
^c PCE TWA in laundries was below the level of detection (0.023 ppm).
^d End-exhaled breath was collected from laundry workers but only one had a PCE level (4.5 ppb) above the limit of detection.
^e Mean is significantly different than the corresponding mean for laundry workers (t-test, P < 0.05).
^f Packs/day × smoking years.
^g Drinks ("cans or glasses of beer, glasses of wine, shots of hard liquor")/week × 52 × drinking years.

ISSN: 1476-069X