Long-term neuropsychological impact of brief occupational exposure to organic solvents

This case series describes the cognitive functioning of 10 individuals who were briefly exposed to a mixture of organic solvents as a result of an industrial accident. Data were obtained 10 years after the exposure on measures of intellect, memory, attention, and executive functioning, using standardised neuropsychological measures including WAIS III, WMS III, Hayling and Brixton Tests, The Trail Making Test, Controlled Oral Word Association, Rey-Osterrieth Complex Figure Test, and The Speed and Capacity of Language-Processing Test. The group performed in the average range across the majority of measures but deficits (z > 1.0 S.D.) were observed on tests that measure speed of information processing, memory, attention, and verbal fluency. Discrepancy scores between the NART and the WAIS suggest subtle but statistically significant decline in performance IQ following solvent exposure.