Abstract:
The aims of this cross-sectional study were to evaluate xylene addiction and its determining factors among 100 workers in paint manufacturing, Chonburi province. The level of urinary methyส hippuric acid (end of shift) was monitored and the factors related to addiction were assessed by using questionnaire. The association between the factors and addiction was analyzed by Pearsons correlation and Chi-square. It was found that most of the study subjects were male (84.0%) with an average age of 33.53 years. with an average working hours with solvent 5.87 hours/ day. More than a third (45.0%) worked in mix/ spray paint department. More than a third (38.0%) some time use respiratory chemical mask with filter cartridge personal protective equipment (PPE) at work. And the average concentration of urinary methyl hippuric acid was 0.014g/ g creatinine. The result revealed that most workers (51.0%) had moderate addiction and 12.0% of them had high addiction. Factors showed significant association with addiction were gender (p = 0.021), age (p = 0.007), education (p = 0.042), smoking (p<0.001), alcohol (p<0.001), route of xylene exposure (skin) (p = 0.008), working condition (p = 0.001), working hour with solvents (p<0.001), overtime (p = 0.001), use chemical protection suit of personal protective equipment (PPE)(p = 0.037) and level of urinary methylhippuric acid (p<0.001). The results showed that xylene exposure level affected to addiction. Therefore it needed to reduce xylene exposure by following control measures and monitored environment and worker health strictly 2 times a year for preventing solvent addiction in the future.