Dose-response relationships between polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon exposure and blood cell counts among coke oven workers: a sex-stratified analysis.

Objectives: To explore sex differences and dose-response relationships between nine urinary polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) metabolites and neutrophil-lymphocyte ratio (NLR), platelet-lymphocyte ratio (PLR) and complete blood counts among coke oven workers.

Design And Setting: A cross-sectional study with stratified sex was conducted in Shanxi, China.

Participants: A total of 458 male workers and 226 female workers were selected.

Primary And Secondary Outcome Measures: General linear models, p values for trend tests and natural cubic spline models were used to explore the dose-response relationships between nine urinary PAH metabolites and NLR, PLR and complete blood counts.

Result: Compared with male workers, female workers had lower exposure level of PAH (0.95 ng/mL vs 1.38 ng/mL). Only among female workers did we observe that a 1-unit increase in lg(1-OHPyr) was related to a 0.149 (95% CI: 0.055 to 0.242; p for trend=0.041) and 0.103 (95% CI: 0.025 to 0.181; p for trend=0.007) increase in lg(NLR) and lg(PLR), and a 0.116 (95% CI: -0.179 to -0.054; p for trend=0.007) decrease in lg(lymphocyte counts (LYMs)). A 1-unit increase in lg(2-OHNap) was related to a 0.045 (95% CI: 0.003 to 0.086; p for trend=0.037) increase in lg(PLR) and a 0.029 (95% CI: -0.056 to -0.002; p for trend=0.030) and 0.016 (95% CI: -0.029 to -0.003; p for trend=0.010) decrease in lg(white blood cell counts (WBCs)) and lg(haemoglobin (HGB)).

Conclusion: Female workers' NLR, PLR, WBCs, HGB and LYMs may be more susceptible than those of male workers when affected by PAH.