Table 16.

Human hematotoxicity studies.

				Peripheral blood changes
Study	Exposure (ppm)	Number of persons (exposed, control)	% change in WBC count between groups or % of subjects with decreased hematology parameters	Total WBC	Platelets	Hb	Other findings
Yang et al., 2007*	0.018–0.036	239, 200	WBCs: 14% (E) vs. 4% (C) Platelets: 11% (E) vs. 1% (C) RBCs: 32% (E) vs. 21.5% (C)	↓↓	↓↓	↓↓
Kuo et al., 1997	ND–0.054 (personal samples) 0.006–0.237(area samples)	50, 71	NA	↓	NS	NS	Statistically significant (-0.33, p < .05) inverse relationship between FA and WBC counts, but not 11 other hematology parameters
Cheng et al., 2004*	0.2.0.76	72, 150	WBCs: 14% in E vs. 5% in C	↓	NA	NA
Lyapina et al., 2004	0.52–1.049 (mean, 0.71)	29, 21	NA	NS	NS	NR	Statistically significant inverse relationship between duration of exposure to formaldehyde and RBC counts and Hct
Xu et al., 2007*	0.36–5.56	10, 10	−11.4	NS	NS	NS
Ye et al., 2005	0.8 (8-h TWA), 1.38 (max) in workers; vs. 0.009 (mean), 0.012 (max) in controls	36, 6	NA	NA	NA	NA	Workers vs. students in dorms. Statistically significantly increased B lymphocytes. Statistically significantly decreased CD3 and CD8 but not CD4 T lymphocytes in peripheral blood
As above	0.09 (5-h TWA), 0.24 (max); vs. 0.009 (mean), 0.012 (max) in controls	18, 6	NA	NA	NA	NA	Waiters vs. students in dorms. No change in B or T lymphocytes counts in peripheral blood
Zhang et al., 2010b	0.63–2.51 (mean, 1.28)	43, 51	−13.5	↓↓	↓	NS	Decreased RBC; increased MCV (statistically significant)
Qian et al., 1988*	2.44 (estimated)	55, 41	−13.3	↓↓↓	NA	NA	Increase in immunoglobulins (Ig) IgM and IgA, and eosinophils (no statistical significance reported)
Feng et al., 1996*	0.57–15.61	104, 68	NA	NS	NA	NS
Srivastava et al., 1992	NR	6, 0	Increased blood lymphocyte counts in 3 of 6 subjects	NA	NA	Decrease	Decreased Hb in 4 of 6 subjects
Tang et al., 2003*	NR	110, 120	−17.1	NS	NA	NA	Decreased WBC count with increasing work years (no statistical significance reported)
Tong et al., 2007*	NR	65, 70	−18	↓↓↓	↓↓↓	NS	WBC and platelet counts decreased with increasing work years (no statistical significance reported)

Note. E = exposed group; C = control group; NR = not reported; NS = not statistically significant; NA = not applicable/available; WBC = white blood cell count in peripheral blood; RBC = red blood cell count in peripheral blood; Hct = hematocrit; Hb = hemoglobin content of RBCs;

^↓statistically significant decrease (p < .05);

^↓↓statistically significant decrease (p < .01);

^↓↓↓statistically significant decrease (p < .001).

^*As cited in Tang et al. (2009). These studies are in Chinese and are not available on PubMed.