Establishing a health-based recommended occupational exposure limit for nitrous oxide using experimental animal data - A systematic review protocol.

Nitrous oxide (N O) is widely used as inhalation analgesic and anaesthetic in medical, paramedical, and veterinary practice. Previous evaluations resulted in classification of N O as a possible risk factor for adverse reproductive health outcomes based on evidence from animal data. Available human data were considered inadequate, partly due to the possibility that other risk factors, such as co-exposures to other inhalation anaesthetics may have contributed to the adverse outcomes.