The investigation of relationship between ambient concentrations and personal exposure levels of formaldehyde in the pathological departments at teaching hospitals in Hamada university of Medical Sciences

Background: Formaldehyde used in the pathology and histology laboratories as a tissue fixation. Formaldehyde classified in group A1 (human carcinogen) by the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC). The aim of this study was the evaluation of relationship between ambient concentrations and time-weighted average or ceiling exposures of formaldehyde the pathology departments. Methods: This descriptive analytical study was performed in the second half of year 1395 at four teaching hospitals in Hamadan university of Medical Sciences. For those purpose 28 TWA samples (by a census method), 17 environmental and, 5 ceiling samples in the peak of pollution were collected simultaneously. The NIOSH 3500 method was used to sampling and analysis of air samples. Result: The mean ambient concentration of formaldehyde was 1.67±1.81 ppm. The mean personal exposure levels in both TWA and ceiling were obtained 0.31±0.40 ppm and 2.36±2.34 ppm respectively. TWA and ceiling levels were more than from NIOSH recommended exposure limits (REL) and Iran's national occupational exposure limit (OEL) respectively. In this study, there were a significant correlation between the personal concentrations with TWA (r= 0.82 , P=0.0001) and ceiling exposure levels (r=0.47 , P=0.01). Conclusion: According to the exist challenges in the risk assessment of formaldehyde, this study in addition to measuring the ceiling exposure levels in the contaminant peak emphasized the simultaneously measure ambient concentrations and TWA exposure levels in order to informed of the staffs exposure levels to assurance effectiveness of control measures at the teaching hospitals. &nbsp