Table 2.
Fractions (shown in %) of product applications, estimated VOC exposures and occupational characteristics by resulting exposure clusters.
| Variable | Group | Overall (n=2030) | EC-1: No products (n = 630) | EC-2: House-keeping/ Chlorine (n = 382) | EC-3: Patient care (n = 500) | EC-4: General cleaning/ laboratory (n = 368) | EC-5: Disinfection products (n = 150) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Product Applications (included in clustering) | |||||||
| High-level disinfectants | Low: 1–3 days/week | 3.15 | 0 | 1.83 | 4.60 | 3.80 | 13.3 |
| High: 4–7 days/week | 4.38 | 0 | 0.26 | 0.60 | 0.54 | 55.3 | |
| Alcohols | Low: 1–3 days/week | 15.1 | 0 | 11.0 | 28.2 | 23.9 | 23.3 |
| High: 4–7 days/week | 26.2 | 0 | 20.9 | 22.4 | 67.9 | 60.0 | |
| Chlorine bleach | Low: 1–3 days/week | 15.5 | 3.17 | 19.4 | 22.2 | 20.7 | 22.7 |
| High: 4–7 days/week | 22.2 | 0 | 59.9 | 4.40 | 36.4 | 44.0 | |
| Enzymes | Low: 1–3 days/week | 3.89 | 0 | 4.45 | 2.00 | 1.09 | 32.0 |
| High: 4–7 days/week | 5.22 | 0 | 8.38 | 2.00 | 0.82 | 40.7 | |
| Formaldehyde | Low: 1–3 days/week | 1.03 | 0 | 0.52 | 0.20 | 0.82 | 10.0 |
| High: 4–7 days/week | 0.79 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.82 | 8.67 | |
| Detergents | Low: 1–3 days/week | 4.33 | 0 | 12.6 | 2.80 | 2.99 | 10.0 |
| High: 4–7 days/week | 7.64 | 0 | 33.2 | 0.40 | 0.54 | 16.0 | |
| Floor wax stripper | Low: 1–3 days/week | 4.68 | 0 | 19.6 | 0.60 | 1.36 | 8.00 |
| High: 4–7 days/week | 0.94 | 0 | 3.40 | 0 | 0 | 4.00 | |
| Glass cleaners | Low: 1–3 days/week | 6.40 | 0 | 26.7 | 0.60 | 4.35 | 6.00 |
| High: 4–7 days/week | 7.29 | 0 | 35.1 | 0 | 1.09 | 6.67 | |
| Phenolics | Low: 1–3 days/week | 2.12 | 0 | 3.93 | 2.00 | 1.63 | 8.00 |
| High: 4–7 days/week | 2.76 | 0 | 7.33 | 1.40 | 1.36 | 10.7 | |
| Quaternary ammonium compounds | Low: 1–3 days/week | 0.49 | 0.32 | 1.05 | 0.20 | 0.54 | 0.67 |
| High: 4–7 days/week | 1.58 | 0 | 5.50 | 0.80 | 0.82 | 2.67 | |
| Skin-wipes used on patients | Low: 1–3 days/week | 13.5 | 0 | 4.19 | 41.6 | 5.98 | 18.7 |
| High: 4–7 days/week | 14.4 | 0 | 1.83 | 41.0 | 12.8 | 22.0 | |
| Clinical or medical laboratory products | Low: 1–3 days/week | 0.94 | 0 | 0.79 | 0 | 3.26 | 2.67 |
| High: 4–7 days/week | 1.77 | 0 | 0.52 | 0 | 8.97 | 0.67 | |
| Aerosolized medications | Low: 1–3 days/week | 9.75 | 0 | 1.83 | 31.2 | 5.43 | 10.0 |
| High: 4–7 days/week | 8.28 | 0 | 1.57 | 25.6 | 7.07 | 5.33 | |
| Dental products | Low: 1–3 days/week | 0.84 | 0 | 0.52 | 0.40 | 1.90 | 4.00 |
| High: 4–7 days/week | 0.69 | 0 | 0.26 | 0 | 2.17 | 3.33 | |
| Estimated Exposuresa and Occupational Characteristics (not included in clustering) | |||||||
| Total 14 VOCs (score/1000) | Mean | 3.00 | 1.23 | 1.98 | 3.12 | 3.76 | 10.3 |
| Standard deviation | 6.54 | 0.01 | 1.18 | 2.09 | 3.38 | 21.6 | |
| 95th percentile | 6.65 | 1.22 | 4.55 | 8.39 | 6.89 | 55.3 | |
| Total 11 VOCs (score) | Mean | 29.2 | 9.07 | 9.51 | 13.5 | 21.5 | 235 |
| Standard deviation | 213 | 0.27 | 4.25 | 6.14 | 102 | 740 | |
| 95th percentile | 26.6 | 9.12 | 17.1 | 23.4 | 21.1 | 2145 | |
| Job | Central supply worker | 2.02 | 0.95 | 1.31 | 0 | 0.82 | 18.0 |
| Dental assistant | 1.58 | 0.63 | 0.79 | 0 | 3.80 | 7.33 | |
| Environmental service | 18.4 | 13.8 | 65.7 | 0.20 | 5.43 | 10.0 | |
| worker, or housekeeper Lab technician, technologist, or assistant | 8.18 | 5.40 | 8.12 | 1.20 | 23.9 | 4.67 | |
| Licensed practical or licensed vocational nurse | 14.6 | 4.76 | 3.66 | 36.2 | 13.9 | 14.0 | |
| Nursing assistant | 34.6 | 66.5 | 13.4 | 14.4 | 35.6 | 19.3 | |
| Operating room technician | 3.10 | 3.33 | 1.31 | 2.80 | 0.82 | 13.3 | |
| Registered nurse | 13.8 | 3.97 | 4.97 | 35.0 | 12.8 | 9.33 | |
| Respiratory therapist or respiratory technician | 3.69 | 0.63 | 0.79 | 10.2 | 2.99 | 4.00 | |
| Facility | Hospital | 50.6 | 31.3 | 64.4 | 53.0 | 57.3 | 72.7 |
| Nursing home | 38.7 | 59.7 | 28.3 | 32.2 | 31.0 | 17.3 | |
| Hospital with nursing home | 6.70 | 6.67 | 3.14 | 9.40 | 6.52 | 7.33 | |
| Other | 3.94 | 2.22 | 4.19 | 5.40 | 5.16 | 2.67 | |
EC, exposure cluster; VOC, volatile organic compounds.
a
Estimated exposures to total VOCs were obtained using parameters for product applications from predictive models developed in our previous study, and weighted by frequencies of product applications in this study; total 14 VOCs included ethanol, acetone, 2-propanol, methylene chloride, hexane, chloroform, benzene, methyl-methacrylate, toluene, ethylbenzene, m,p-xylene, o-xylene, α-pinene, and d-limonene, and total 11 VOCs excluded the three most dominant compounds: ethanol, acetone and 2-propanol.