Diagnosis of early toxic effects of lead or mixed organic solvents - Inclusion of psychopathological methods

To verify occupational neurotoxic effects it will be necessary to enlist th e help of clinical psychologists and psychiatrists. However, no unified pro fessional test battery exists to date. 119 healthy workers (26 lead-exposed , 45 exposed to mixed organic solvents, and 48 controls) were tested using uniformly standardised psychological and psychiatric methods. Long-term lea d-exposed employees showed an increased number of psychoneurovegetative sym ptoms and deficits in attention performance according to the results of the Seeber-PNF and the Brickenkamp-d2-tests. There was no difference between t he control group and the persons exposed to the organic solvents test. Many parameters correlated to the dose of the toxic agent in the lead-exposed g roup. SCL-90-R, AMDP, and HAMD merely hinted at differences between the exp osed subjects and the controls. Psychological and pathopsychological method s are necessary but will not suffice to detect early effects after longterm exposure to lead or organic solvents.