Effects on the nervous system in different groups of workers exposed to aluminium

Objective - To investigate possible neurotoxic effects in groups of alumini um pot room and foundry workers, aluminium welders, and a small group of wo rkers exposed to aluminium in the production of flake powder. Methods - Exposure to aluminium was evaluated with aluminium concentrations in blood and urine as well. as a questionnaire. The groups exposed to alum inium were compared with a group of mild steel welders. Neurotoxic effects were studied with mood and symptom questionnaires and several psychological and neurophysiological tests. Results - The pot room and foundry workers showed very low aluminium uptake as their aluminium concentrations in blood and urine were close to normal, and no effects on the nervous system were detected. The group of workers e xposed to flake powder had high concentrations of aluminium in blood and ur ine, even higher than those of the aluminium welders. However, aluminium co uld not be shown to affect the functioning of the nervous system in flake p owder producers. Although significant effects could not be shown in the pre sent analysis of the data on welders, the performance of the welders expose d to high concentrations of aluminium was affected according to the analyse s in the original paper from this group. Conclusions - For the pot room and foundry workers no effects related to th e exposure to aluminium could be found. For the group of flake powder produ cers exposed for a short term no effects on the nervous systems were eviden t despite high levels of exposure. Due to the high concentrations of alumin ium in the biological samples of this group, measures to reduce the exposur e to aluminium are recommended, as effects on the central nervous system mi ght develop after protracted exposures. However, this assumption needs to b e verified in further studies.