Metal Exposure and its Impact to Physiological Attributes: A Scoping Literature Review Using Software with Artificial Intelligence

The Air Force (AF) needs information detailing AF chemicals, performance attributes impacted, and dose-response relationships between chemicals and level of impact on performance attributes for vision, audiology, physiology, and psychology. A list of relevant AF chemicals in occupational environments was developed to conduct literature reviews to determine impact on performance attributes of concern. The second chemical class reviewed was metals. The commercial software, Distiller SR, with artificial intelligence capabilities was used to help screen 54,824 publications identified in the literature search down to 550 for the scoping review and provided the structure for the steps leading to summaries of key studies found to impact attributes. The primary metal for which research was found was lead. Other metals were manganese oxide, titanium dioxide, cadmium and mercury. Primary performance attributes negatively impacted by metals are cardiopulmonary effects, including respiratory irritation and obstruction(physiology), and a number of cognitive functions, such as learning, memory and fatigue (psychology). The literature search found only one reference for a metal affecting auditory and visual attributes. Due to limited dose-response data available for most attributes, additional research and model development is recommended. Non-occupational and short-term exposures can potentially induce transient impacts on performance attributes.