Public Health Laboratory of Alicante, 6 Plaza de España, 03010 Alicante, Spain.
Department of Analytical Chemistry, Nutrition and Food Science, Institute of Materials, University of Alicante, 03080 Alicante, Spain.
Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2021 Dec 9;18(24):13012. doi: 10.3390/ijerph182413012.
This case study investigates the exposure of 119 Spanish women of reproductive age to 5 essential (Co, Cu, Mn, V, Zn) and 10 toxic (Ba, Be, Cs, Ni, Pb, Pt, Sb, Th, Al, U) elements and assesses their risk. The essential elements (Co, Cu, Mn, V, and Zn) showed average concentrations (GM: geometric mean) of 0.8, 35, 0.5, 0.2, and 347 μg/L, respectively. Five of the toxic elements (Ba, Cs, Ni, Al, U) exhibited detection frequencies of 100%. The GM concentrations of the novel toxic elements were 12 μg/L (Al), 0.01 μg/L (Pt), 0.02 μg/L (U), 0.12 μg/L (Th), 0.009 μg/L (Be) and 4 μg/L (Cs). The urine analysis was combined with a survey to assess any variations between subgroups and potential predictors of exposure to elements in the female population. Significant differences were obtained between the rural and urban areas studied for the toxic element Cs, with higher levels found in mothers living in urban areas. In relation to diet, statistically significantly higher levels of essential (Cu) and toxic (Ba) elements were detected in women with a high consumption of fish, while mothers who consumed a large quantity of legumes presented higher levels of the toxic element Ni ( = 0.0134). In a risk-assessment context, hazard quotients (HQs) greater than 1 were only observed for the essential elements Zn and Cu in P95. No deficiency was found regarding the only essential element for which a biomonitoring equivalent for nutritional deficit is available (Zn). For the less-studied toxic elements (Al, Pt, U, Th, Be, and Cs), HQs were lower than 1, and thus, the health risk due to exposure to these elements is expected to be low for the female population under study.
本案例研究调查了 119 名处于生育年龄段的西班牙女性接触 5 种必需元素（Co、Cu、Mn、V 和 Zn）和 10 种有毒元素（Ba、Be、Cs、Ni、Pb、Pt、Sb、Th、Al 和 U）的情况，并评估了她们所面临的风险。必需元素（Co、Cu、Mn、V 和 Zn）的平均浓度（GM：几何平均值）分别为 0.8、35、0.5、0.2 和 347μg/L。五种有毒元素（Ba、Cs、Ni、Al 和 U）的检出率均为 100%。新型有毒元素的 GM 浓度分别为 12μg/L（Al）、0.01μg/L（Pt）、0.02μg/L（U）、0.12μg/L（Th）、0.009μg/L（Be）和 4μg/L（Cs）。尿液分析与问卷调查相结合，以评估女性人群中各亚组之间的差异以及接触元素的潜在预测因素。在所研究的农村和城市地区之间，对于有毒元素 Cs 获得了显著差异，居住在城市地区的母亲体内 Cs 水平较高。关于饮食，摄入大量鱼类的女性体内必需元素（Cu）和有毒元素（Ba）的水平明显较高，而摄入大量豆类的母亲体内有毒元素 Ni 的水平较高（=0.0134）。在风险评估方面，仅在 P95 中对于必需元素 Zn 和 Cu 观察到 HQ 值大于 1。对于唯一存在营养缺乏生物监测等效物的必需元素 Zn，并未发现缺乏情况。对于研究较少的有毒元素（Al、Pt、U、Th、Be 和 Cs），HQ 值均小于 1，因此，对于所研究的女性人群，由于接触这些元素而导致的健康风险预计较低。
