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5959677 
Journal Article 
Determination of formic acid in urine of workers occupationally exposed to formaldehyde 
Mautempo, C; Bastos, MDL; Carvalho, F; Remião, F; Carmo, H; Guedes-De-Pinho, P 
2010 
1 
Toxicology Letters
ISSN: 0378-4274
EISSN: 1879-3169 
196 
S74-S74 
English 
WOS:000208471300227 
Formaldehyde is a simple, inexpensive and useful compound used in several industrial applications. It is found in many products, including resins and adhesives, permanent press fabric treatments, tissue preservatives, lawn fertilizers, cosmetics and disinfectants. Exposure to formaldehyde may result in irritant effects and result in the development of tumours. These health adverse effects of formaldehyde occurs more frequently in industrial occupational settings, where high levels of volatile formaldehyde are found, due to the fact that exposures occur primarily through inhalation.

Formaldehyde is a molecule chemically very unstable. It is easily absorbed and rapidly metabolized to formic acid, its major metabolite. In the present study, workers potentially exposed to formaldehyde were monitored for their urinary levels formic acid. For this purpose, an analytical method using gas chromatography with flame ionization detection (GC/FID) was developed and applied to the quantification of formic acid in human urines. The sample preparation involves a previous derivatization process (with a methanolic solution of BF3) and subsequent solid phase micro extraction. The developed method was shown to be selective, accurate, precise and linear for the acid formic determination.

Thirty workers, potentially exposed to formaldehyde, and 31 volunteers not exposed to formaldehyde in their workplace were enrolled in this study. It was observed that the group exposed to formaldehyde has significant (p < 0.0001) higher levels (17.14 ± 5.41 mg/L) of formic acid in urine than the control group (8.94 ± 2.92 mg/L).

The results allowed concluding about the potential use of formic acid as a biomarker of exposure to formaldehyde in work environments, to prevent and/or to reduce the adverse effects that may result from such exposure.