Evidence map›Paper›PMID 40812234›Full record

ArticleThe Science of the total environment2025

Associations between airborne crude oil chemicals and neurological symptoms among workers in the gulf long-term follow-up study.

Kristen N Cowan, Emily J Werder, Kaitlyn G Lawrence, Richard K Kwok, Patricia A Stewart, Mark R Stenzel, Caroline P Groth, Tran B Huynh, Sudipto Banerjee, Gurumurthy Ramachandran and 4 more

Abstract read
PubMed Full text at PMC Publisher
In one paragraph

Article in The Science of the total environment, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
0citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

0 citing papers in PubMed.

No citing paper in PubMed yet.

4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

14 authors.

Kristen N CowanEpidemiology Department, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC, USA. Electronic address: KCowan@unc.edu.
Emily J WerderEpidemiology Branch, National Institutes of Environmental Health Sciences, Durham, NC, USA.
Kaitlyn G LawrenceEpidemiology Branch, National Institutes of Environmental Health Sciences, Durham, NC, USA.
Richard K KwokPopulation Studies and Genetics Branch, National Institute on Aging, Bethesda, MD, USA.
Patricia A StewartStewart Exposure Assessments, LLC, Arlington, VA, USA.
Mark R StenzelExposure Assessment Applications, Arlington, VA, USA.
Caroline P GrothDepartment of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, West Virginia University, WV, USA.
Tran B HuynhDepartment of Environmental and Occupational Health, Drexel University, Philadelphia, PA, USA.
Sudipto BanerjeeDepartment of Biostatistics, University of California Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, USA.
Gurumurthy RamachandranDepartment of Environmental Health and Engineering, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD, USA.
W Braxton JacksonSocial & Scientific Systems, Inc., a DLH Holding company, Durham, NC, USA.
Frankie LaPorteSocial & Scientific Systems, Inc., a DLH Holding company, Durham, NC, USA.
Dale P SandlerEpidemiology Branch, National Institutes of Environmental Health Sciences, Durham, NC, USA.
Lawrence S EngelEpidemiology Department, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC, USA.

Funding

Biostatstics for Research in Environmental HealthT32ES007018 · NIEHS · UNIV OF NORTH CAROLINA CHAPEL HILL · PI Stephanie Engel, Rebecca Fry · 1985 to 2026
$31.3M
NIEHS NIH HHS T32 ES007018
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

backgroundMany volatile organic compounds may be neurotoxic at occupational levels. However, little is known about the neurotoxicity of these chemicals below occupational exposure limits, including among oil spill response and cleanup (OSRC) workers.

objectiveWe studied associations of neurological symptoms with exposure to benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene, xylenes, and n-hexane (BTEX-H) individually and as a mixture among 23,641 OSRC workers enrolled in the Gulf Long-Term Follow-up (GuLF) Study, a cohort following the 2010 Deepwater Horizon disaster.

methodsAt enrollment, participants reported frequencies of neurological symptoms in the preceding 30 days. Cumulative inhalation exposure to the BTEX-H chemicals (ppb-days) and to total hydrocarbons (THC; ppm-days) were estimated using a job exposure matrix linking exposure group estimates to detailed individual OSRC work histories. We calculated adjusted prevalence ratios (PR) and 95 % confidence intervals (CI) for associations across quartiles (Q) of each exposure and each neurological symptom, as well as multiple symptoms, reported all or most of the time, using modified Poisson regression. Quantile g-computation was used to estimate the per-quartile increase in the effects of the BTEX-H mixture on neurological symptoms.

resultsTwenty-eight percent of participants reported experiencing at least one, and 5 % reported 2 or more, neurological symptoms. Increased exposure to THC was associated with increased prevalence of two or more neurological symptoms (Q

Indexed as

Air Pollutants, OccupationalInhalation ExposureNeurotoxicity SyndromesOccupational ExposurePetroleum PollutionAdultBenzeneBenzene DerivativesFemaleFollow-Up StudiesGulf of AmericaHexanesHumansMaleMiddle AgedPetroleumAir Pollutants, OccupationalBenzeneBenzene DerivativesethylbenzeneHexanesn-hexanePetroleumTolueneVolatile Organic CompoundsXylenesAir pollutionCrude oilEpidemiologyHuman well-beingInhalation exposuresWorkplace exposures

Identifiers

PMID40812234
PMCPMC12498325

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceTDM
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.