Mahdi Abbas Ali, Ansari Jamal Akhtar, Chaurasia Priyanka, Ahmad Mohammad Kaleem, Kunwar Shipra, McClean Sally, Yogarajah Pratheepan
Department of Biochemistry, King George's Medical University, Uttar Pradesh Lucknow, 226003 India.
Department of Chemistry, Shibli National PG College, Azamgarh, Uttar Pradesh 276 001 India.
Indian J Clin Biochem. 2023 Jan;38(1):94-101. doi: 10.1007/s12291-022-01040-0. Epub 2022 Jun 22.
Lead is a highly toxic element which can cross the placental barrier and enter the fetus during pregnancy. Parental lead exposure has adverse effect on infant as well as on maternal health. As part of our program to investigate the lead poisoning in human population we investigated the maternal blood lead levels (MBLL) and umbilical cord blood lead (UBLL) levels in 200 pregnant women and collected their socio-demographic details. In the study we found high lead levels in both maternal and umbilical cord blood samples. The results showed 47.5% maternal blood ( = 95) detected with lead while 38.5% umbilical cord blood ( = 77) samples had lead concentration higher than that of reference range of ≤ 5 µg/dL. We also found that the Spearman's correlation coefficient (rs) revealed a strong positive correlation between the MBLL and UBLL (rs = 0.63). The results from socio-demographic questionnaire demonstrated that the recent home painting ( = 0.002) and residing close proximity to traffic congestion ( = 0.05) were significantly associated with MBLL. Education, mother age, fuel and water sources were not significantly associated with MBLL. Iron and calcium deficiency along with tiredness, lethargy, abdominal pain were also reported in women having high lead level > 5 µg/dL. Concludingly, on the basis of results obtained it may be stated that we found elevated BLLs in both pregnant women as well as in umbilical cord blood. The prevalence of elevated lead levels in mothers will expose the fetus to lead through placental barriers mobilization and it can have long term adverse effects on the developing fetus. Therefore, it is recommended that screening of blood lead levels be carried out in high-risk women based on their social, occupational, environmental, and individual factors. In addition, stringent regulations on lead-based products are also required from government agencies/authorities to reduce environmental lead burden and toxicity. Moreover, public awareness programs should be organized on hazardous effect of lead.
铅是一种剧毒元素，在孕期可穿过胎盘屏障进入胎儿体内。父母接触铅对婴儿以及母亲的健康均有不良影响。作为我们调查人群铅中毒项目的一部分，我们对200名孕妇的母血铅水平（MBLL）和脐带血铅（UBLL）水平进行了调查，并收集了她们的社会人口学详细信息。在该研究中，我们发现母血和脐带血样本中的铅含量均较高。结果显示，47.5%的母血样本（n = 95）检测出铅，而38.5%的脐带血样本（n = 77）铅浓度高于参考范围≤5μg/dL。我们还发现，Spearman相关系数（rs）显示MBLL和UBLL之间存在强正相关（rs = 0.63）。社会人口学问卷调查结果表明，近期房屋粉刷（p = 0.002）以及居住在交通拥堵附近（p = 0.05）与MBLL显著相关。教育程度、母亲年龄、燃料和水源与MBLL无显著关联。血铅水平>5μg/dL的女性还报告有缺铁、缺钙以及疲劳、嗜睡、腹痛等情况。总之，根据所得结果可以说，我们发现孕妇和脐带血中的血铅水平均升高。母亲血铅水平升高的患病率会使胎儿通过胎盘屏障动员接触铅，这可能对发育中的胎儿产生长期不良影响。因此，建议根据高危女性的社会、职业、环境和个人因素对其进行血铅水平筛查。此外，政府机构/当局还需要对铅基产品制定严格的规定，以减轻环境铅负担和毒性。此外，应组织关于铅危害的公众意识项目。
