Oxidation damage in brick artisans exposed during the production process in the city of Chihuahua City, Mexico

Introduction
Handmade brick production in Mexico and Latin America is an informal labor activity with little praise from society at large; yet it provides the main raw materials to one of the most important industries in the country, the building and construction industry. To this are added the unsafely practices in the baking of the product and the occupational exposition of the artisans to the emissions during such process, by lacking habits of work hygiene and protection measures.
The objective was to establish the levels of oxidant damage and the antioxidant capacity in occupationally exposed individuals in the process of handmade brick production in a community of the city of Chihuahua City.

Methods
Two groups of male gender individuals were studied, group I was formed by 19 clinically healthy individuals while group II was formed by 19 occupationally exposed individuals in the process of handmade brick production.

Results
In both groups their clinical conditions were assessed (anthropometric measures, arterial blood pressure, blood chemistry, lipid profile and general urine test); total antioxidant capacity and oxidative damage like lipoperoxidation were assessed as antioxidant system. Group II individuals showed musculoskeletal, respiratory and ocular disorders, possibly related to their work activity. The chemical-clinical markers were found as normal in both patient groups, regarding total antioxidant capacity a statistically significant decrease was found (T test p<0.05) for group II compared to group I.

Discussion
In occupationally exposed individuals total antioxidant capacity is diminished which leads us to conclude this group of patients is subject to increases in oxidative stress caused by a deficiency in these antioxidant agents which causes an increase in damage to lipids. Therefore, we can assume cellular damage is latent and carries the risk of becoming more evident, as exposure time grows bigger and finally leading to possible systemic and cellular damage.