Lead in finger bone whole blood plasma and urine

Authors: Andrejs Schütz Martin Olsson Anker Jensen Lars Gerhardsson Jimmy Börjesson Sören Mattsson Staffan Skerfving

Publish Date: 2005/01/26

Volume: 78, Issue: 1, Pages: 35-43

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Abstract

Objectives To assess the historical exposure and to study the relationships between lead concentrations in whole blood BPb plasma PPb urine UPb finger bone BonePb and duration of employment in workers at a secondary lead smelter and to compare the relationships between BPb and PPb with results from previous studies of populations with a wide range of lead exposure Methods In 39 lead workers 29 active ten retired recruited from those with the highest exposure at a German secondary lead smelter levels of BPb PPb and UPb were determined by inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry ICPMS BonePb was determined by in vivo Xray fluorescence XRF Results were compared with data from a previous study on 90 workers 71 active 19 retired with lower exposure from a Swedish secondary lead smelter as well as with previously collected data from 42 active Russian lead workers and 34 Ecuadorian leadexposed subjects Results The median values in the active/retired German lead workers were age 44/59 years duration of employment 20/38 years BonePb 71/150 μg/g BPb 500/330 μg/l PPb 27/11 μg/l and UPb 25/13 μmol/mol creatinine BonePb increased with duration of employment by 42 μg/g per year and 16 μg/g per year in German and Swedish workers respectively The median BonePb was three times higher in both active and retired German workers than in Swedish smelter workers with essentially the same age distribution and duration of employment The linear regression equation between BPb and log PPb in the combined group of Ecuadorian German Russian and Swedish leadexposed subjects n=176 was BPb=545×logPPb + 258 rs=094 P0001 Conclusions The high BonePb values recorded for the German smelters implied a historical lead exposure of considerable magnitude The longterm high lead exposure also showed up in the BPb levels for both active and retired workers leading to the implementation of necessary industrial safety measures in order to respond to biological threshold limits The suggested equation describing the relationship between BPb and PPb in the combined group of subjects with a wide range of lead exposure can be useful in future crosssectional and longitudinal studies of leadexposed populations relating eg lead exposure to adverse health outcomesThe following organisations and companies are thankfully acknowledged for their help in making this study come true Staatliches Gewerbeaufsichtsamt Braunschweig Frau Dr Bialek and Frau v BelowNeufeldt Niedersachsisches Landesamt für Ökologie Dr Slupinski Arztekammer Niedersachsen BAD Gesundheitsversorge und Sicherheitstechnik GmbH Bonn Frau Dr Schlicker and Herr Müller TÜV Hannover/Sachsen–Anhalt Herr Kreienfeld Philips Medizin Systeme Hamburg and Herr Notte at the German lead smelter plant This paper is dedicated to the memory of Andrejs Schütz PhD who sadly passed away in the summer of 2001

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