A Comparison of Thiol/Disulphide Levels of Workers in Operating Rooms and Emergency Healthcare Centers

Özet

Objective: Thiol/disulphide homeostasis has a crucial role for life. The aim of this study was to compare thiol/disulphide homeostasis in healthcare professionals work- ing in the operating room (Group 1) and healthcare professionals working in the emergency department (Group 2). Materials-Methods: This was a descriptive study. Fortynine operating room volun-teers (Group 1) and 49 emergency department volunteers (Group 2) were included in this study. Thiol and disulphide concentrations were measured using the novel auto-mated measurement method developed by Erel & Neşelioğlu in 2014. Result: The thiol/disulphide levels were compared in both groups; Native thiol in group 1 was 353,57 ± 49,86 μmol.L -1 , and it was 333,73 ± 37,38 μmol.L -1 (p = 0.028) in group 2. total thiol values were 384,71 ± 52,36 μmol.L−1 and 370,94 15,56 ± 5,36 μmol.L -1 (P =0,133), respectively in group 1 and 2. In group 1,disulphide levels were 15,56±5,36 μmol.L -1 , in group 2 it was 18,61 ± 7,71 μmol.L -1 (p = 0,025), disulphide/native thiol in group 1 was 4,47 ± 1 %, and in group 2 it was measured %, 5,73 ± 2,95% (p = 0.009). Disulphide/total thiol in the group 1 was 4,06 ± 1,32% and 5,03 ± 2,13% (p= 0,008) in group 2. Native thiol / total thiol levels were 90,23 ± 12,16% in group 1 and 89,93 ± 4,26% in group 2 (p = 0,871). Native thiol level in group 1 and high level of di-sulphide in group 2 indicate that the exposure to oxidative stress in the emergency de-partment is higher than in the operating room. Conclusion: Our results show that participants of emergency room group have statis-tically higher levels of disulphide than participants working in operating room which may suggest presence of oxidative stress related with workplace exposures.