Sains Malaysiana 33(1): 83-98 (2004)                                                                                           Sains Hayat /

                                                                                                                                                                Life Science

Perbandingan Kepekatan Plumbum Darah dan Hubungannya dengan

Skor Neurotingkah laku antara Pekerja Kilang Bateri dengan Pekerja

Pentadbiran di Selangor D.E., Malaysia

(Comparative study of blood lead concentration and its association with n

eurobehavioural scores between workers at a battery factory and

administrative workers at Selangor D.E. Malaysia)

Zailina Hashim, Nurunniza Zainal Abidin

& Shamsul Bahari Shamsudin

Environmental and Occupational Health Unit

Department of Community Health

Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences

Universiti Putra Malaysia

43400 Serdang, Selangor D.E., Malaysia

ABSTRAK

Kajian ini membandingkan kepekatan plumbum darah dan hubungannya dengan skor neurotingkah laku di kalangan dua kumpulan pekerja. Kumpulan terdedah yang terdiri daripada 50 orang pekerja lelaki dari dua buah kilang bateri manakala kumpulan perbandingan terdiri daripada 40 orang pekerja pentadbiran lelaki dari sebuah universiti tempatan. Ujian Neurotingkahlaku (NCTS) dari Pertubuhan Kesihatan Sedunia yang telah diubahsuai digunakan. la mengandungi 7 ujian iaitu Ujian Pengstoran Visual Benton, Ujian Jarak Digit, Ujian Simbol Digit, Ujian Sasaran Mengejar, Ujian Masa Tindakbalas, Ujian Kepantasan Tangan Santa Ana dan Ujian Membuat Jejak. Sampel darah vena telah diambil dari responden kajian dan kepekatan plumbum darah dianalisis menggunakan Spektrojotometer Serapan Atom Relau Grafit. Min kepekatan plumbum darah kumpulan terdedah (38.5 μg/dL) adalah lebih tinggi dari kumpulan perbandingan (5.6 μg/dL). Terdapat perbezaan yang signifikan bagi min kepekatan plumbum darah di antara dua kumpulan ini. Ujian statistik juga menunjukkan perbezaan yang signifikan bagi min skor setiap ujian neurotingkahlaku seperti Ujian Pengstoran Visual Benton (p = 0.001), Ujian Jarak Digit (p< 0.001), Ujian Simbol Digit (p< 0.001), Ujian Sasaran Mengejar (p< 0.001), Ujian Masa Tindakbalas (p< 0.001), Ujian Kepantasan Tangan Santa Ana (p< 0.001), Ujian Membuat Jejak (p<0.001) dan min skor jumlah keseluruhan ujian NCTS (p< 0.001) di antara dua kumpulan ini. Terdapat hubungan songsang yang signifikan di antara kepekatan plumbum darah dengan setiap skor ujian neurotingkah laku dan skor keseluruhan apabila kedua kumpulan ini digabungkan. Kepekatan plumbum darah menunjukkan hubungan songsang yang signifikan dengan tempoh pendidikan (p=<0.00l) dan jumlah pendapatan (p=0.001) apabila kedua kumpulan ini digabungkan. Ujian statistik mendapati bahawa plumbum darah, umur, tempoh pendidikan, jumlah pendapatan, tempoh bekerja dan bangsa menyumbang kepada pencapaian min skor NCTS keseluruhan. Model GLM menunjukkan bahawa 56.9 % dari nilai min skor NCTB dipengaruhi oleh variabiliti faktor  penyumbang yang telah dinyatakan.

ABSTRACT

This study compares the mean blood lead concentration and its association with the mean neurobehavioral scores between 2 groups of workers. The exposed group was made up of 50 male workers from 2 battery manufactur­ing factories and the comparative group was made up of 40 male adminis­trative workers from a local university. The neurobehavioral test was carried out by using a modified World Health Organization Neurobehavioral Core Test Battery (NCTS). The NCTS consists of 7 tests, which are made up of the Benton Visual Retention Test, Digit Symbol, Digit Span, Pursuit Aiming Test, Reaction Time, Santa Ana Manual Dexterity Test and Trail Making Test. Blood samples were collected by venous puncture method. Blood lead concentrations were determined by the Graphite Furnace Atomic Absorption Spectrophotometer (GFAAS). The mean blood lead concentration of the exposed group (38.5 μg/dL) is higher than the comparative group (5.6 μg/dL). Results show significant difference in the mean blood lead concentration between the 2 groups (p<0.001). There are also significant differences in the mean scores of each NCTS test such as Benton Visual Retention Test (p = 0.001), Digit Span Test (p< 0.001), Digit Symbol Test(p< 0.001), Pursuit Aiming Test (p< 0.001), Reaction Time Test (p< 0.001), Santa Ana Manual Dexterity Test (p< 0.001), Trail Making Test (p<0.001) (p< 0.001) and the overall NCTS test (p<0.001) between the 2 groups. There are significant inverse correlation between blood lead concentrations with each and overall NCTS scores when the two groups are combined. There are significant inverse correlations between blood lead concentrations with educational years and income for all respondents. Statistical tests show that blood lead, age, years of formal education, total income, years of work, and ethnicity contributes to the overall NCTS scores. The GLM model shows that 56.9% of the mean NCTS scores are influenced by the variability in the contributing factors mentioned before.

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