Effect of environmental pollution on the level of serum ige and its relationship with some allergic diseases

Abstract

This study was conducted on 73 tannery workers and 44 control subjects during April, 2003 to February, 2005. The tannery workers had an average monthly family income of Taka 4583 and about 51% of them belonged to low income group earning from Taka 1000 to 3000. About 62% of the tannery workers had poor housing status and 22% of them were illiterate. They had an average BMI of 21.36 ± 2.91, with the age ranging from 14 to 62 years. There was a significant linear relationship (p = 0.000; r = 0.484) between the age and BMI of the tannery workers. Allergic diseases were found in 49 (67.1%) of the tannery workers, while 12 (16.4%) had food allergy, followed by allergic contact dermatitis 9 (12.3%), eosinophilia 9 (12.3%), non-specific allergy 6 (8.2%), allergic rhinitis 5 (6.8%), allergic urticaria 4 (5.5%), drug allergy 2 (2.7%), allergic bronchitis 1 (1.4%) and atopic dermatitis 1 (1.4%). No tanner/ worker was found with allergic asthma. Low monthly family income and poor housing status were found associated with the development of allergic diseases. Among the tannery workers, blood eosinophil (p = 0.034) and basophil (p = 0.003) counts were significantly elevated compared to the control subjects. The mean serum C3 level was significantly lower (p = 0.034) than that in the control subjects indicating that exposure to different chemicals through working at tannery caused the breakdown of complement C3. There was a significant linear relationship between the level of C3 and basophil count (p = 0.026; r = 0.310) in the tannery workers. Duration of exposure at tannery suppressed the secondary immune response mediated by IgG since the mean level of serum IgG in the long term exposure was significantly lower (p = 0.034) than that in the short term exposure. A significant inverse correlation (p = 0.004; r = -0.330) was found between the levels of IgG of all tannery workers and the duration of exposure. Secondary immune response with IgG had worked better in the younger tannery workers than in the older workers. Age of the tannery workers showed inverse relationship with the total WBC counts (p = 0.007; r = -0.314) and the levels of serum IgG (p = 0.016; r = -0.280). The IgE level in underweight workers were significantly higher compared to normal (p = 0.007) and overweight workers (p = 0.008). Also the level of serum IgE had significant inverse correlation with the BMI (p = 0.004; r = -0.336) and age (p = 0.036; r = -0.246) of all the tannery workers. The mean serum IgE level in the tannery workers was significantly higher (p = 0.002) than that in the control subjects. The most significant finding of this study was that the mean serum IgE level in the tannery workers without allergic diseases was significantly higher (p = 0.008) compared to the control subjects without allergic diseases indicating that working exposure at tannery caused the elevation of the serum IgE level in the tannery workers