The genotoxic risk of hospital, pharmacy and medical personnel occupationally exposed to cytostatic drugs - evaluation by the micronucleus assay

The aim of this study was to evaluate the genotoxicity of cytostatic drugs in hospital and pharmacy employees (n = 100), occupationally exposed. The m icronucleus assay was used to study lymphocytes in 247 peripheral blood sam ples. Samples were collected at "baseline level" without any cytostatic dru gs exposure before recruiting or after at least 3 weeks without cytostatic drugs contact and at three times (cycle 1-3) post-exposure. Samples from 60 office employees served as controls. Furthermore, our results were compared to urinary analyses of cytostatic dr ugs (oxazaphosporines, anthracyclines, platinum) which were collected in pa rallel to the cytogenetic investigation. Statistical analyses were performed under consideration of age, gender and X-ray exposure. The frequency of micronuclei was significantly related to t he age of the subjects (r(Spearman) = 0.16; P < 0.05). However, there were no significant differences in micronucleus rates between controls and expos ed hospital workers. Similarly, micronucleus rates were not significantly d ifferent at the various sampling time points and there was no correlation b etween duration of employment and micronucleus rates. Furthermore, no corre lation between current biomonitoring data of exposure (urine tests) and mic ronuclei frequency was found. Therefore, significantly increased genotoxic damage of the lymphocytes investigated in this study could not be demonstra ted. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science B.V. All tights reserved.