Abstract
Children are particularly vulnerable to adverse health effects associated with heavy metal exposure. The goal of this study was to investigate the relationship between proximity to an industry complex and blood lead and urinary cadmium levels for children aged 7-13 who lived in Ulsan where a big petrochemical complex is located. We conducted a questionnaire survey to collect data including sociodemographics, daily habits, residential environment, etc. We also analyzed blood lead and urinary cadmium levels using Atomic Absorption Spectrometry (AAS). Data were analyzed using regression analysis. All statistical analyses were conducted with SAS software version 9.2. We calculated distance by using a Geographic Information System (ArcGIS version 10.0). The geometric mean blood lead level was 1.55 <TEX>${\mu}g/dL$</TEX> (boys: 1.59 <TEX>${\mu}g/dL$</TEX>, girls: 1.51 <TEX>${\mu}g/dL$</TEX>), and the geometric mean urinary cadmium level was 0.51 <TEX>${\mu}g/g$</TEX> creatinine (boys: 0.45 <TEX>${\mu}g/g$</TEX> creatinine, girls: 0.58 <TEX>${\mu}g/g$</TEX> creatinine). In the results of regression analyses, we found that urinary cadmium levels significantly decreased as distance between residence and industrial complex increased after adjusting for age, gender, income, passive smoking and the length of residence. This result was opposite to that for lead levels. Our observations support the hypothesis that urinary cadmium levels in children are related to their proximity to an industrial complex.
Highlights
Human exposure assessments using biomarkers have been conducted in many countries
The goal of this study was to investigate the relationship between proximity to an industry complex and blood lead and urinary cadmium levels for children aged 7-13 who lived in Ulsan where a big petrochemical complex is located
We found that urinary cadmium levels were significantly decreased as distance between residence and industrial complex increased after adjusting for age, gender, income, passive smoking and the length of residence
Summary
Human exposure assessments using biomarkers have been conducted in many countries. The NHEXAS (National Human Exposure Assessment Survey) has been running since 1995 in the United States and the GerES (German Environmental Survey) has been conducted since 1985 in Germany. In Korea, the “Korean National Human Exposure and Bio-monitoring Examination” has been conducted to investigate concentrations of harmful chemical substances including heavy metals and identify risk factors. Cadmium is absorbed by inhaling air which is polluted by environmental tobacco smoke, house dust, and industrial emissions. It is more effectively absorbed in the airways (up to 66%) than in the gastrointestinal tract (3-7%) (Schoeters et al, 2006). According to the “Korean National Human Exposure and Bio-monitoring Examination”, the geometric mean of blood lead levels for adults was 1.98 μg/dL (male: 2.55 μg/dL, female: 1.77 μg/dL) and that of the urinary cadmium was 0.76 μg/g creatinine (male: 0.60 μg/g creatinine, female: 0.84 μg/g creatinine) (National Institute of Environmental Research, 2008)
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