North-West University, Vaal Triangle Campus, Research Unit Environmental Science and Management, Mine Water Re-Search Group, Vanderbijlpark, South Africa.
Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf, Institute for Resource Ecology, Dresden, Germany.
PLoS One. 2019 Jun 27;14(6):e0219059. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0219059. eCollection 2019.
Uranium (U) measurements in water, soil, and food related to gold mining activities in populated areas in Gauteng Province, South Africa, suggest the possibility of exposure levels that may lead to adverse health consequences, including cancer. Theoretical considerations on pathways of human uptake of significant exposures are plausible, but few data on directly measured human exposure are available. A cross-sectional study was conducted using human measurements to compare U levels with other settings around the globe (based on literature review), to explore potential exposure variability within the province, and to test the feasibility of recruiting subjects partially coming from vulnerable and difficult-to-reach populations. Wards of potentially high (HE) and low exposure (LE) were identified. Composite hair samples representing the respective local populations were collected from regular customers of selected barber shops over a period of 1-2 months. A total of 70 U concentrations were determined in 27 composite samples from 1332 individuals. U concentrations ranged from 31 μg/kg to 2524 μg/kg, with an arithmetic mean of 192 μg/kg (standard deviation, 310 μg/kg) and a median of 122 μg/kg. Although HE wards collectively showed higher U levels than LE wards (184 vs 134 μg/kg), differences were smaller than expected. In conclusion, detected U levels were higher than those from most other surveys of the general public. The barber-based approach was an efficient hair collection approach. Composite hair samples are not recommended, due to technical challenges in measuring U, and individual hair samples are needed in follow-up studies to determine predictors of exposure.
在南非豪登省人口稠密地区的金矿开采活动中，对水、土壤和食物中的铀（U）进行测量，表明可能存在导致不良健康后果（包括癌症）的暴露水平。关于人体摄入重要暴露途径的理论考虑是合理的，但很少有关于直接测量人体暴露的数据。本研究采用人体测量方法进行了一项横断面研究，将 U 水平与全球其他地区（基于文献综述）进行了比较，探索了省内潜在暴露的变异性，并测试了从弱势群体和难以接触的人群中招募部分对象的可行性。确定了高（HE）和低（LE）暴露的病房。在 1-2 个月的时间内，从选定理发店的常规顾客中收集了来自潜在高暴露（HE）和低暴露（LE）病房的代表性当地人群的复合头发样本。从 1332 个人的 27 个复合样本中总共确定了 70 个 U 浓度。U 浓度范围为 31μg/kg 至 2524μg/kg，算术平均值为 192μg/kg（标准差 310μg/kg），中位数为 122μg/kg。尽管 HE 病房的 U 水平普遍高于 LE 病房（184 比 134μg/kg），但差异小于预期。总之，检测到的 U 水平高于大多数其他普通公众调查的水平。基于理发店的方法是一种有效的头发收集方法。由于测量 U 方面的技术挑战，不建议使用复合头发样本，在后续研究中需要使用单个头发样本来确定暴露的预测因素。
