Correlation between urinary 1-hydroxypyrene and ambient air pyrene measured with an inhalable aerosol sampler and a total dust sampler in an electrode paste plant

The aim of this study was to investigate whether the use of an inhalable aerosol sampler would improve the correlation between urinary 1-hydroxypyrene and occupational pyrene exposure compared to measurements with a total dust sampler in an electrode paste plant. PAHs were collected on a filter and adsorbent by a 37-mm closed-face total aerosol sampler and an open-face sampler for inhalable aerosol from the Institute of Occupational Medicine (IOM). 1-hydroxypyrene in pre- and post-shift urine samples was quantitated by high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). In this study, the use of the IOM sampler resulted in approximately four times higher concentrations of particulate PAH and pyrene than the total dust sampler. The correlation between pyrene levels measured with the two samplers was good with a correlation coefficient of 0.83. The correlation between workplace air pyrene and 1-hydroxypyrene in post-shift urine was poor (r=−0.12), but a small non-significant improvement was found with the IOM sampler (r=0.11). In this factory the use of an inhalable aerosol sampler had only marginal effect on the correlation between 1-hydroxypyrene in urine and breathing zone pyrene. These results indicate that skin exposure is an important route of PAH uptake in this plant.