Hematological and hepatic alterations in nonsmoking residents exposed to benzene following a flaring incident at the British petroleum plant in Texas City

Table 3 Comparison of hematological and hepatic indices between unexposed and benzene exposed nonsmoking subjects according to gender

Variable	Gender	Unexposed^δ	Benzene exposed^β	P Value
WBC (× 10³ per μL)	Male	6.7 ± 1.7	7.5 ± 2.5	0.001*
WBC (× 10³ per μL)	Female	6.8 ± 1.6	8.0 ± 1.6	0.001*
Platelets (× 10³ per μL)	Male	233.1 ± 48.7	267.0 ± 47.7	0.001*
Platelets (× 10³ per μL)	Female	256.3 ± 53.8	316.6 ± 63.5	0.001*
Hemoglobin (g per dL)	Male	15.1 ± 0.9	15.2 ± 0.8	0.13^ψ
Hemoglobin (g per dL)	Female	13.2 ± 0.8	13.5 ± 2.8	0.25^ψ
Hematocrit (%)	Male	44.9 ± 2.6	44.9 ± 2.2	0.50^ψ
Hematocrit (%)	Female	39.9 ± 2.3	40.1 ± 2.3	0.10^ψ
BUN (mg per dL)	Male	14.6 ± 3.2	16.1 ± 4.9	0.001*
BUN (mg per dL)	Female	12.8 ± 3.7	14.8 ± 4.5	0.001*
Creatinine (mg per dL)	Male	0.9 ± 0.1	1.1 ± 0.3	0.001*
Creatinine (mg per dL)	Female	0.7 ± 0.1	0.9 ± 0.2	0.001*
ALP (IU per L)	Male	73.7 ± 16.7	84.9 ± 18.3	0.001*
ALP (IU per L)	Female	69.0 ± 18.1	90.3 ± 21.9	0.001*
AST (IU per L)	Male	21.8 ± 5.7	29.9 ± 8.5	0.001*
AST (IU per L)	Female	18.0 ± 4.4	24.3 ± 6.9	0.001*
ALT (IU per L)	Male	24.3 ± 4.9	40.1 ± 13.7	0.001*
ALT (IU per L)	Female	17.4 ± 6.8	25.3 ± 5.6	0.001*

*Differences between benzene exposed and unexposed groups are significant.
^ψ = did not reach statistical significance.
WBC White blood cells, BUN Blood urea nitrogen, ALP Alkaline phosphatase, AST Aspartate amino transferase, ALT Alanine amino transferase.
^δMale unexposed: n = 131; ^δFemale unexposed: n = 198.
^βMale exposed: n = 610; ^βFemale exposed: n = 483.

ISSN: 1476-069X