Association between dioxins/furans exposures and incinerator workers' hepatic function and blood lipids

This study examined the effects of dioxins/furans on blood lipids and hepatic function and assessed potential interaction between hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection and dioxins on hepatic function for 133 male workers of municipal waste incinerators. We found that total cholesterol levels in workers with blood dioxins/furans levels of 15.4-59.0 pg TEQ/g lipid (high-exposure workers) averaged 13.5 mg/dL higher than workers with 5.5-15.3 pg TEQ/g lipid (low-exposure workers). The adjusted odds ratio for total cholesterol abnormality (>220 mg/dL) was 2.8 (95% confidence interval = 1.0-7.9) between high and low-exposure workers. High-exposure workers showed consistently, although not statistically significantly, higher abnormality in γ-glutamyltransferase (>52 U/L), alanine aminotransferase (>41 U/L), and aspartate aminotransferase (>37 U/L) than did low-exposure workers. However, there was no statistically significant interaction between dioxins/furans and HBV on these hepatic enzymes among incinerator workers.