Investigation on the correlations between vitreo-retinal disorders and atmospheric particulate matter in individuals working in Taranto

ntroduction: several epidemiological studies have already highlighted the effects that fine at- mospheric particulate matter has on health in terms of increasing mortality, hospital admissions and also respiratory diseases in the cardiovascu- lar system. The purpose of this study is to assess the possi- ble correlation between inhalation of fine fraction of particulate matter missing in the air and disease outbreaks in vitreoretinal tract in the workplace of ILVA steel plant in Taranto. Materials and methods: from June 2013 to Decem- ber 2014 were examined both 57 male individuals aged between 25 and 58 years, working at the ILVA steel plant in Taranto and 52 male individuals aged between 25 and 58 who were just residents in the city of Taranto. For each of them a complete eye examination was performed with particular reference to the posteri- or segment of the eye (indirect ophthalmoscopy with Schepens unit). All the examined individuals had visual acuity perfectly normal and no optic nerve lesion. All the general and ocular medical history revealed no pre-existing conditions worthy of note. It was then conducted a statistical analysis of the data obtained by means of a chi-squared test by applying the correction according to Yates, which is appropriately used when the number of obser- vations is less than 500. The significance level considered was 5%. Therefore, they were consid- ered statistically significant values of p <0.05. Results: during this work, statistical significance were highlighted between the two groups exam- ined. The workers examined in 84% of cases have retinal disorders; 27% individuals had retinal dis- orders among residents examined in the city of Taranto. Discussion: from the resulting data can be as- sumed that micro-respiratory bronchiole block- ages can lead to gridlock and consequent retinal venous congestion.