USE OF BONE-MINERAL CONTENT DETERMINATION BY X-RAY ABSORPTIOMETRY IN THE EVALUATION OF OSTEODYSTROPHY AMONG WORKERS EXPOSED TO ALUMINUM POWDERS

Within the framework of a cross-sectional study, we investigated 61 em ployees in an aluminium powder factory to see if aluminium had an infl uence on bone mineral content using the non-invasive method of bone de nsity measurement. Thirty-two workers had been employed for, on averag e, 151 months in the area of aluminium powder production. Twenty-nine employees in the same factory, who had not been engaged in the product ion of aluminium powder, served as controls. The groups differed signi ficantly in the concentrations of aluminium in urine and plasma. The b one mineral content, which was determined in the lumbar spine by means of photon absorptiometry showed no significant difference between the groups. The bone density value amounted to 1.00 g/cm(2) for those exp osed and 1.02 g/cm(2) for the control group (median values). No correl ation could be determined between the values obtained from the biologi cal monitoring of the plasma or the duration of exposure and the bone density values. To summarise, using osteodensitometry as the method of investigation here, no influence could be detected for an occupationa l exposure to aluminium powders on the mineral salt content of the ske letal system in the area of the lumbar spine.