Occupational impairment of the olfactory sense of chromate producing workers (author's transl)

Abstract

Using T & T Olfactometer which had been developed and standardized for clinical use in Japan recently, measurements of olfactory thresholds of odor detection and of odor recognition were carried out on 33 subjects (26 males and 7 females), who had worked in a chromate producing factory. The subjects had left the factory before 7 years or more. Five kinds of test odors were used; beta-phenyl ethyl alcohol, methyl cyclopentenolone, iso-valeric acid, gamma-undecalactone, and scatol. The degree of olfaction loss was expressed with the number of powers of 10 in series of multiple concentrations by 10 of each test odor with reference to the concentration of the detection threshold of young normal people. Seventeen of 33 subjects (51.4%) had a perforation of the nasal septum. Middle and high grade decrease of odor recognition faculty were found in 18 (54.5%) including 2 anosmia, one of whom complained also of the disorder of taste. Any specific pattern of olfactogram characterizing them were not found, namely, chromates impair olfactory sense for all kinds of odors, which means the impairment of olfactory epithelium itself. The degree of olfaction loss was related to the duration of employment in the chromate producing factory. The existence of septal perforation had no direct relation to the degree of olfaction loss.