Urinary Extraction of Oxidative Damage in Carpet Weavers

Abstract

Nearly 8.5 million people in Iran directly or indirectly make a living from hand-made carpet weaving industry. Ongoing work, poor postures, breathing problems and skin irritations are among factors affecting the health, safety and wellbeing of those involved in this industry. Hence, considering such factors seem to improve the quality of carpet as a valuable cultural commodity and expand its export. Accordingly, this study investigates the oxidative stress biomarkers among involved and non-involved people in the hand-made carpet industry. 25 carpet maker and 25 ordinary people (not involved in carpet industry) who had been matched for age and sex were selected as study groups. The level of oxidative stress biomarkers such as antioxidant capacity, total thiols and catalase were measured among subjects, and finally the biomarkers were compared between the two groups. To compare the oxidative stress biomarkers in two groups, Independent Sample T Test was used. The mean levels of total antioxidant capacity showed no significant difference between the two groups (0.05 < p-value). Two other markers, thiols and catalase, in both groups showed significant differences (0.05 > p-value). In conclusion, carpet weaving industry induces oxidative stress and natural antioxidant may be considered beneficial for the protection of oxidative damage in such subjects.