Relationship of Benzene Exposure to Trans, Trans-Muconic Acid and Blood Profile of Shoe Workers in Romokalisari Surabaya, Indonesia

BACKGROUND: Benzene is a hazardous ingredient for health. Benzene is used as a latex glue solvent in the shoe industry. AIM: The purpose of the study was to analyse the relationship between benzene exposure with trans, trans-muconic acid (t, t-MA) and the blood profile of shoe workers in Romokalisari Surabaya. METHODS: The study was a cross-sectional design conducted in the shoe industry in Romokalisari Surabaya with some subjects of 20 shoe workers. Data collection was carried out by measuring benzene levels conducted at 8 measurement points in Surabaya Romokalisari, taking workers’ blood, measuring body weight and conducting interviews with respondents. Data were analysed using correlation tests. RESULTS: The results showed that there was no relationship between benzene levels with t, t-MA (p-value = 0.205), there was no relationship between benzene Risk Quotient (RQ) and t, t-MA (p-value = 0.271) and there was no relationship between the Excess Cancer Risk (ECR) and blood profile of workers in Romokalisari. However, there were some abnormal blood profile parameters due to exposure to benzene although it was small. CONCLUSIONS: It seems another factors such as length of work, nutritional status, duration of exposure, weight, and frequency of exposure have a considerable contribution in the determination of intake of xenobiotic ingredients in the body to cause health effects especially blood profiles.