Linear Relationships Between Total Hydrocarbons and Benzene, Toluene, Ethylbenzene, Xylene, and N-Hexane During the Deepwater Horizon Response and Clean-Up

Details

• Personal Author:
  Banerjee, Sudipto ; Blair, Austin ; Engel, Lawrence S. ; Groth, Caroline P. ; Huynh, Tran B. ; Kwok, Richard K. ; Quick, Harrison ; Ramachandran, Gurumurthy ; Sandler, Dale P. ; Stenzel, Mark R. ; Stewart, Patricia A.
• Description:
  Objectives: Our objectives were to (i) determine correlations between measurements of THC and of BTEX-H, (ii) apply these linear relationships to predict BTEX-H from measured THC, (iii) use these correlations as informative priors in Bayesian analyses to estimate exposures. Methods: We used a Bayesian left-censored bivariate framework for all 3 objectives. First, we modeled the relationships (i.e. correlations) between THC and each BTEX-H chemical for various overarching groups of measurements using linear regression to determine if correlations derived from linear relationships differed by various exposure determinants. We then used the same linear regression relationships to predict (or impute) BTEX-H measurements from THC when only THC measurements were available. Finally, we used the same linear relationships as priors for the final exposure models that used real and predicted data to develop exposure estimate statistics for each individual exposure group. Results: Correlations between measurements of THC and each of the BTEX-H chemicals (n = 120 for each of BTEX, 36 for n-hexane) differed substantially by area of the Gulf of Mexico and by time period that reflected different oil-spill related exposure opportunities. The correlations generally exceeded 0.5. Use of regression relationships to impute missing data resulted in the addition of >23 000 n-hexane and 541 observations for each of BTEX. The relationships were then used as priors for the calculation of exposure statistics while accounting for censored measurement data. Conclusions: Taking advantage of observed relationships between THC and BTEX-H allowed us to develop robust exposure estimates where a large amount of data were missing, strengthening our exposure estimation process for the epidemiologic study. A correction to this article was published on April 7, 2022: https://doi.org/10.1093/annweh/wxac018. [Description provided by NIOSH]
• Subjects:
  Hexanes Hydrocarbons Occupational Exposure Occupational Health Safety
• Keywords:
  Author Keywords: BTEX; Correlations; Deepwater Horizon; Determinants Of Exposure; N-hexane Oil Spills; Spill Cleanup; Disaster Clean-up; Occupational Exposure; Exposure Assessment; Hydrocarbons; Petroleum Oils; Hazardous Waste Cleanup;
• ISSN:
  2398-7308
• Document Type:
  Text
• Funding:
  Grant
• Genre:
  Journal Article
• Place as Subject:
  California ; Maryland ; North Carolina ; OSHA Region 3 ; OSHA Region 4 ; OSHA Region 9 ; Pennsylvania ; Virginia ; West Virginia
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Pages in Document:
  18 pdf pages
• Volume:
  66
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20063431
• Citation:
  Ann Work Expo Health 2022 Apr; 66(Suppl 1):i71-i88
• Contact Point Address:
  Caroline P. Groth, Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, WVU School of Public Health, West Virginia University, One Medical Center Drive, Morgantown, WV 26506, USA
• Email:
  caroline.groth@hsc.wvu.edu
• CAS Registry Number:
  Benzene (CAS RN 71-43-2) ; Ethylbenzene (CAS RN 100-41-4) ; Hexane (CAS RN 110-54-3) ; Toluene (CAS RN 108-88-3) ; Xylene (CAS RN 1330-20-7)
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2022
• Performing Organization:
  Drexel University, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
• Peer Reviewed:
  True
• Start Date:
  20160901
• Source Full Name:
  Annals of Work Exposures and Health
• Supplement:
  1
• End Date:
  20190831
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:639158b0344dfc0bbfd8bdc4baa13cca80bb92e0991f830de54b09fbf7c4c68dd73c3b2dac98c42d514208886a40d1376add2512bd2dc381ec129be7d3199a1d
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/231587/cdc_231587_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 1.24 MB ]