Inner Mongolia Medical University, Hohhot 010110, Inner Mongolia, China.
The Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region Comprehensive Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Huhhot 010031, Inner Mongolia, China.
Ecotoxicol Environ Saf. 2023 Nov 1;266:115600. doi: 10.1016/j.ecoenv.2023.115600. Epub 2023 Oct 18.
Rare earth elements (REEs) have been broad application in a range of industries, including the electronics industry, advanced materials, and medicine. However, health risks associated with REEs received increasing attention. 31 residents (16 males and 15 females) from Bayan Obo mining in Inner Mongolia, China, were enrolled in this study. In total, 677 food samples, the major human exposure matrices (drinking water and duplicate diets), and bio-samples (urine and blood) of 31 participants were obtained. The concentrations of REEs were measured to characterize their external and internal exposures, and the potential health risk of exposure to REE through the ingestion route was analyzed. The results revealed that the detection rate in blood samples (100%) is higher than in urine (32.86%), and only a few REEs were detected in water samples (8.06%), the urine concentrations were considerably lower than in blood. Exposure to REEs through drinking water was considered negligible compared to food intake. Lanthanum and cerium were the most concentrated REEs in food samples. Health risks were calculated based on a dose-response model, the total hazard quotients (THQ) values for all food groups were within normal levels, and the Monte Carlo simulation results show that the 5th, the 50th, and the 95th percentile values of HI were found as 1.45 × 10, 3.52 × 10, and 9.13 × 10, respectively, neither exceeds the threshold, indicating low health risks associated with food intake exposure for this area. The sensitivity results suggest that underweight people are at higher risk, cerium, lanthanum, and yttrium concentrations, and food intake contributes more to health risks. The use of probability distribution methods can improve the accuracy of the results. The cumulative health risk through food intake is negligible, and further attention should be paid to the health risk induced by other routes of exposure to REEs by the local residents.
稀土元素 (REEs) 在许多行业中得到广泛应用，包括电子工业、先进材料和医学。然而，与 REE 相关的健康风险引起了越来越多的关注。本研究共纳入了来自中国内蒙古白云鄂博矿区的 31 名居民（男性 16 名，女性 15 名）。共采集了 677 份食物样本、主要人体暴露矩阵（饮用水和两份饮食）和 31 名参与者的生物样本（尿液和血液）。测量了 REE 浓度，以描述其外暴露和内暴露，并分析了通过摄入途径接触 REE 的潜在健康风险。结果显示，血液样本的检出率（100%）高于尿液样本（32.86%），仅在少数水样（8.06%）中检测到 REE，尿液浓度明显低于血液。与食物摄入相比，通过饮用水接触 REE 被认为可以忽略不计。在食物样本中，镧和铈是最集中的 REE。根据剂量-反应模型计算健康风险，所有食物组的总危害系数（THQ）值均处于正常水平，蒙特卡罗模拟结果表明，HI 的第 5 百分位、第 50 百分位和第 95 百分位值分别为 1.45×10、3.52×10 和 9.13×10，均未超过阈值，表明该地区食物摄入暴露与健康风险相关较低。敏感性结果表明，体重过轻的人风险较高，铈、镧和钇的浓度以及食物摄入对健康风险的贡献更大。概率分布方法的使用可以提高结果的准确性。通过食物摄入累积的健康风险可以忽略不计，应进一步关注当地居民通过其他途径接触 REE 引起的健康风险。
