DOI: 10.36347/sjams.2018.v06i11.024

Pages: 4286-4289

During education and training in medical schools, budding doctors are exposed to a variety of occupational hazards. One of them is formaldehyde, which is commercially available as formalin and is used as a component of embalming fluids in anatomy. It causes mucosal irritation, affects lung functions, skin and even produces changes in the counts of different cells of blood. The present study was therefore intended to observe its effect on differential leucocyte count of first year medical students. A longitudinal, descriptive study was conducted in the Department of Physiology, Rohilkhand Medical College and Hospital with eighty randomly selected first year medical students. Their DLC was recorded at the beginning and end of the academic year. Descriptive statistics and paired T-test was used for analysis. A p-value < 0.05 was considered significant. After exposure, a significant decrease in lymphocytes and a significant increase in eosinophils were observed. The changes are the haematological manifestation of the nature of inflammation produced by formaldehyde, which are predominantly allergic. Counts can also be altered if the process of haemopoiesis is affected either directly by formaldehyde or indirectly by various mediators of inflammation. The exact mechanism remains to be unfolded. We should promote measures to reduce the exposure of students to formaldehyde.