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Ann. occup. Hyg., Vol. 46, No. 8, pp. 713-717, 2002
© 2002 British Occupational Hygiene Society
Published by Oxford University Press

Alveolar Macrophages as Biomarkers of Pulmonary Irritation in Kitchen Workers

INGVILL SIVERTSEN1,*, ANN KRISTIN SJAASTAD1, KRISTIN SVENDSEN1 and ÅSE KRØKJE2

1 Department of Occupational Medicine, University Hospital of Trondheim, N-7006 Trondheim; and 2 Department of Botany, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Trondheim, Norway

Received 15 April 2002; in final form 22 July 2002

Objectives: Alveolar macrophages (AM) are used as a biomarker of pulmonary irritation due to occupational exposure in the AM test. The aim of this study was to investigate whether there is a co-variation between the number of AM and exposure to cooking fumes.  Materials and methods: The study group consisted of 62 volunteers. People who worked in a kitchen preparing hot meals were considered as occupationally exposed (35 persons). The exposed group was further divided into highly and slightly exposed persons according to the levels of fat aerosols and aldehydes in the working atmosphere. People who were not preparing hot meals were considered as unexposed (27 persons). The number of AM was counted in smears prepared from expectorate samples from each participant. Samples were taken on three different days.  Results: Highly occupationally exposed persons had a higher number of AM in their samples than both slightly occupationally exposed persons and unexposed persons. Highly exposed smokers had a statistically significantly higher number of AM compared with both slightly and unexposed smokers (P <= 0.05).  Conclusion: The results suggest an increase in the number of AM due to exposure to cooking fumes and a synergistic effect between occupational exposure and smoking.

Keywords: alveolar macrophages; cooking fumes; kitchen workers; smoking; synergism


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