Occupational Medicine, Department of Public Health and Clinical Medicine, Umeå University, Umeå, Sweden.
Division of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, Lund University, Lund, Sweden.
J Expo Sci Environ Epidemiol. 2014 Jan-Feb;24(1):51-7. doi: 10.1038/jes.2013.4. Epub 2013 Feb 27.
Lead in blood is a major concept in biomonitoring of exposure but investigations of its alternatives are scarce. The aim of the study was to describe different lead biomarkers' variances, day-to-day and between individuals, estimating their fraction of the total variance. Repeated sampling of whole blood, plasma and urine were conducted for 48 lead-exposed men and 20 individuals under normal environmental lead exposure, in total 603 measurements. For lead workers, the fraction of the total variance attributed to differences between individuals was 91% for whole-blood lead (geometric mean 227 μg/l; geometric standard deviation (GSD): 1.55 μg/l); plasma 78% (0.57 μg/l; GSD: 1.84 μg/l); density-adjusted urine 82%; and unadjusted urine 75% (23.7 μg/l; GSD: 2.48 μg/l). For the individuals under normal lead exposure, the corresponding fractions were 95% of the total variance for whole blood (20.7 μg/l; GSD: 8.6 μg/l), 15% for plasma (0.09 μg/l; GSD: 0.04 μg/l), 87% for creatinine-adjusted urine and 34% for unadjusted (10.8 μg/l; GSD: 6.7 μg/l). Lead concentration in whole blood is the biomarker with the best ability to discriminate between individuals with different mean concentration. Urinary and plasma lead also performed acceptably in lead workers, but at low exposures plasma lead was too imprecise. Urinary adjustments appear not to increase the between-individual fraction of the total variance among lead workers but among those with normal lead exposure.
血铅是暴露生物监测中的一个重要概念，但对其替代物的研究很少。本研究旨在描述不同的血铅生物标志物的差异，包括个体内和个体间的差异，并估计它们在总方差中的比例。对 48 名铅暴露工人和 20 名正常环境铅暴露个体进行了全血、血浆和尿液的重复采样，共采集了 603 个样本。对于铅作业工人，全血铅（几何均数 227μg/l；几何标准差（GSD）：1.55μg/l）、血浆（0.57μg/l；GSD：1.84μg/l）、校正密度的尿铅（82%）和未校正的尿铅（75%）（23.7μg/l；GSD：2.48μg/l）的个体间差异占总方差的比例分别为 91%、78%、82%和 75%。对于正常铅暴露个体，全血（20.7μg/l；GSD：8.6μg/l）、血浆（0.09μg/l；GSD：0.04μg/l）、校正肌酐的尿铅（87%）和未校正的尿铅（34%）（10.8μg/l；GSD：6.7μg/l）的个体间差异占总方差的比例分别为 95%、15%、87%和 34%。全血铅浓度是区分个体间不同平均浓度的最佳生物标志物。尿液和血浆铅在铅作业工人中也表现出可接受的水平，但在低暴露水平下，血浆铅的精度较低。尿液校正似乎不会增加铅作业工人个体间总方差的比例，但在正常铅暴露个体中会增加。
