PMID- 32197155
OWN - NLM
STAT- MEDLINE
DCOM- 20200626
LR  - 20200626
IS  - 1879-1026 (Electronic)
IS  - 0048-9697 (Linking)
VI  - 722
DP  - 2020 Jun 20
TI  - Risk of kidney stone among workers exposed to high occupational heat stress - A 
      case study from southern Indian steel industry.
PG  - 137619
LID - S0048-9697(20)31130-X [pii]
LID - 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2020.137619 [doi]
AB  - BACKGROUND: Predicted temperature rise is likely to increase the risks of 
      development and progression of renal/urologic anomalies for workers engaged in 
      physically exerting and high-heat occupations. METHODS: We conducted a 
      cross-sectional study with 340 steelworkers engaged in moderate to heavy labour 
      with >/=3 year's heat exposures and assessed Wet Bulb Globe Temperature (WBGT) and 
      heat-strain indicators. We captured self-reported heat-strain and kidney symptoms 
      using validated questionnaires and subjected 91 workers to renal ultrasound upon 
      referral of an occupational health specialist to detect and confirm any 
      structural renal anomalies/stones. RESULTS: The results show that heat exposures 
      (Avg.WBGT = 33.2  degrees C +/- 3.8  degrees C) exceeded the Threshold Limit Value (TLV) for 220 
      workers. 95% of the workers reported symptoms of heat strain and dehydration and 
      significant associations between heat exposures, rise in Core Body Temperature 
      (CBT) (p = 0.0001) and Urine Specific Gravity (USG) (p = 0.018) were observed. Of 
      the 91 workers subjected to renal ultrasound, 33% were positive for 
      kidney/ureteral stones (n = 25) & other structural renal anomalies (n = 5). 
      Renal/urologic anomalies were higher in the heat-exposed workers (AOR = 2.374; 
      95% C.I = 0.927 to 6.077; p = 0.072) 29% of workers were from exposed group and 
      4% were from unexposed group. Years of exposure to heat (>/=5 vs <5) were 
      significantly associated with the risk of renal anomalies/calculi. CONCLUSION: 
      The preliminary finding concludes that high-heat stress combined with a heavy 
      workload and chronic dehydration are high-risk factors for adverse renal health 
      and calls for the urgent need for cooling interventions, enhanced welfare 
      facilities, and protective labour policies to avert adverse health consequences 
      for few million workers in the climate change scenario.
CI  - Copyright (c) 2020 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
FAU - Venugopal, Vidhya
AU  - Venugopal V
AD  - Department of Environmental Health Engineering, Sri Ramachandra Institute of 
      Higher Education and Research, No: 1, Ramachandra Nagar, Porur, Chennai, Tamil 
      Nadu 600116, India. Electronic address: vvidhya@ehe.org.in.
FAU - Latha, P K
AU  - Latha PK
AD  - Department of Environmental Health Engineering, Sri Ramachandra Institute of 
      Higher Education and Research, No: 1, Ramachandra Nagar, Porur, Chennai, Tamil 
      Nadu 600116, India. Electronic address: latha@ehe.org.in.
FAU - Shanmugam, Rekha
AU  - Shanmugam R
AD  - Department of Environmental Health Engineering, Sri Ramachandra Institute of 
      Higher Education and Research, No: 1, Ramachandra Nagar, Porur, Chennai, Tamil 
      Nadu 600116, India. Electronic address: Rekha@ehe.org.in.
FAU - Krishnamoorthy, Manikandan
AU  - Krishnamoorthy M
AD  - Department of Environmental Health Engineering, Sri Ramachandra Institute of 
      Higher Education and Research, No: 1, Ramachandra Nagar, Porur, Chennai, Tamil 
      Nadu 600116, India. Electronic address: manikandan@ehe.org.in.
FAU - Srinivasan, Krishnan
AU  - Srinivasan K
AD  - Department of Physiology, Sri Ramachandra Institute of Higher Education and 
      Research, No: 1, Ramachandra Nagar, Porur, Chennai, Tamil Nadu 600116, India.
FAU - Perumal, Kumaravel
AU  - Perumal K
AD  - Department of Environmental Health Engineering, Sri Ramachandra Institute of 
      Higher Education and Research, No: 1, Ramachandra Nagar, Porur, Chennai, Tamil 
      Nadu 600116, India. Electronic address: kumaravel@ehe.org.in.
FAU - Chinnadurai, Jeremiah S
AU  - Chinnadurai JS
AD  - Department of Environmental Health Engineering, Sri Ramachandra Institute of 
      Higher Education and Research, No: 1, Ramachandra Nagar, Porur, Chennai, Tamil 
      Nadu 600116, India. Electronic address: jeremiah@ehe.org.in.
LA  - eng
PT  - Journal Article
DEP - 20200306
PL  - Netherlands
TA  - Sci Total Environ
JT  - The Science of the total environment
JID - 0330500
RN  - 12597-69-2 (Steel)
SB  - IM
CIN - J Urol. 2020 Oct;204(4):873-874. PMID: 32716225
MH  - Cross-Sectional Studies
MH  - *Heat Stress Disorders
MH  - Heat-Shock Response
MH  - Hot Temperature
MH  - Humans
MH  - *Kidney Calculi
MH  - *Occupational Exposure
MH  - Steel
OTO - NOTNLM
OT  - Dehydration
OT  - Occupational heat stress
OT  - Physiological strain
OT  - Renal calculi
OT  - Steel industry
COIS- Declaration of competing interest The authors declare no competing interest in 
      the present study.
EDAT- 2020/03/21 06:00
MHDA- 2020/06/27 06:00
CRDT- 2020/03/21 06:00
PHST- 2019/09/19 00:00 [received]
PHST- 2020/02/27 00:00 [revised]
PHST- 2020/02/27 00:00 [accepted]
PHST- 2020/03/21 06:00 [pubmed]
PHST- 2020/06/27 06:00 [medline]
PHST- 2020/03/21 06:00 [entrez]
AID - S0048-9697(20)31130-X [pii]
AID - 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2020.137619 [doi]
PST - ppublish
SO  - Sci Total Environ. 2020 Jun 20;722:137619. doi: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2020.137619. 
      Epub 2020 Mar 6.