Influence of chronic exposure to organic solvent mixtures on contrast sensitivity in silk-screen printers: matched-pair analysis

The aim of the study was the determination of the influence of chronic occupational exposure to organic solvent mixtures on the contrast sensitivity (CS) of silk-screen printers. Contrast sensitivity was measured for 28 matched (age, sex) pairs of silk-screen printers and controls using the Vision Contrast Test System - VCTS 6500 chart. The duration of exposure to industrial neurotoxic substances was about 9 years. Contrast sensitivity impairments were recorded in 28.6% of the printers for both eyes at several spatial frequencies. Males and females differed in CS significantly, but no interaction between gender (male vs. female) and exposure (printers vs. controls) was found.