Performance of Neurobehavioral Tests Among Welders Exposed to Manganese

To study neurobehavioral effects for manganese fume exposure of welders, we administrated questionnaire about subjective symptom, related with manganese exposure. Neurobehavioral Core Test Battery of World Health Qrganization(NCTB) and finger tapping for 98 welders and 29 non-welding workers. We adopted welding duration as a criterion for exposure assessment, because of the lack of the longitudinal valid data and differences in airborne concentrations of manganese in welding types, such as shielded metal arc and CO2 arc welding. Neurologic, musculoskeletal and concentration symptoms were significantly increased by increase of welding duration. Performance of finger tapping preferred hand, Santa Ana dexterity test preferred hand and correct number of pursuit aiming were significantly decreased by increase of welding duration. These results comparable with previous studies that suggest neurobehavioral test, especially motor test, to be an appropriate tool to detect early neurobehavioral abnormalities related with manganeses exposure.