Chromium

Direct observations: clinical cases, poisoning incidents and other

Administrative data

Endpoint:

direct observations: clinical cases, poisoning incidents and other

Type of information:

migrated information: read-across based on grouping of substances (category approach)

Adequacy of study:

supporting study

Reliability:

3 (not reliable)

Rationale for reliability incl. deficiencies:

other: Read-across: exposure to varoius chromium species. Inadequate methodologies

Data source

Reference

Reference 1

Reference Type:

publication

Title:

Dreiwertige Chromverbindungen - Ergebnisse einer arbeitsmedizinischen Untersuchung; Teil 1: Allgemeines; Technologie; Nachgehende Untersuchung [Trivalent chromium compounds - results of an occupational health study.]

Author:

Korallus, U. and H. Ehrlicher

Year:

1974

Bibliographic source:

Arbeitsmedizin-Sozialmedizin-Präventivmedizin.9(3): 51-54.

Reference 2

Reference Type:

publication

Title:

Dreiwertige Chromverbindungen - Ergebnisse einer arbeitsmedizinischen Untersuchung; Teil 3: Klinische Studie [Trivalent chromium compounds - Results of an occupational medical study.]

Author:

Korallus, U., H. Ehrlicher, et al.

Year:

1974

Bibliographic source:

Arbeitsmedizin-Sozialmedizin-Präventivmedizin.9(11): 248-252.

Reference 3

Reference Type:

publication

Title:

Dreiwertige Chromverbindungen - Ergebnisse einer arbeitsmedizinischen Untersuchung; Teil 2: Krankenstandsanalyse [Trivalent chromium compounds. Results of a study in occupational medicine. Part 2: Disease status analysis.]

Author:

Korallus, U., H. Ehrlicher, et al.

Year:

1974

Bibliographic source:

Arbeitsmedizin-Sozialmedizin-Präventivmedizin.9(4): 76-79.

Materials and methods

Study type:

other: descriptive health reports presenting overviews on various observations

Endpoint addressed:

not applicable

Test guideline

Qualifier:

no guideline followed

Principles of method if other than guideline:

Three descriptive health reports presenting retrospective overvews on the causes of death, health reasons for removal to other jobs, occurrence of unfitness to work, and clinical examinations of workers from a German chromium oxide and basic chromium sulphate plant.

GLP compliance:

no

Test material

Test material information

Constituent 1

Reference substance name:

Chromium oxide

EC Number:

234-361-2

EC Name:

Chromium oxide

IUPAC Name:

Chromium oxide

Details on test material:

Chromium exposure at a chromium oxide production plant.

Method

Type of population:

occupational

Subjects:

Workers at a chromiumium oxide production plant (1965-1971).
Age 20 - >60 years
Duration of work: varying from 2 months to 15 years (not presented systematically)
No other details given.

Route of exposure:

other: all routes

Reason of exposure:

unintentional, occupational

Exposure assessment:

measured

Results and discussion

Clinical signs:

The authors report on the types of tumour and number of cases found in the workforce, and provide crude descriptions of the causes of death, of the causes of sickness-related pensioning or sickness-related transfer to other jobs, and the cases involved.
Incidences of sick-leave due to various illnesses as percentages of all sick-leaves combined were compared with corresponding figures for the whole plant. These crude comparisons suggested that sick-leaves due to respiratory diseases (infections excluded) were not more frequent among chromium oxide workers than among the workers of the whole plant in general. No conclusions about risks or etiological factors can be drawn from the descriptive data. However, the authors noted that in the spectrum of illnesses, there was no emphasis on the occurrence of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and that no cases of skin sensitization to chromium(III) (“allergic reactions”) were found.
The third report contains data on clinical examinations of 106 workers from the chromium oxide and basic chromium sulphate production. Among the results are five cases of nasal septum perforations and six cases of pneumoconiosis. However, the chromium oxide workers were not separated from the basic chromium sulphate workers, and for most of the parameters there were no control subjects. Among the workers some had previous exposure to quartz and some were also occsionally working at the chromic acid plant, involving Cr(VI) exposure.
Due to the inadequate methodologies and mixed exposure, no conclusions can therefore be made based on these descriptive studies.

Applicant's summary and conclusion

Conclusions:

The three descriptive health reports presenting retrospective overvews on the causes of death, health reasons for removal to other jobs, occurrence of unfitness to work, and clinical examinations of workers from a German chromium oxide and basic chromium sulphate plant showed some health effects among the workers, but due to the inadequate methodologies and mixed exposure, no conclusions can be made based on these descriptive studies.