THE CONCENTRATION LEVELS OFCd, Pb, Hg, Cu, Zn AND Se IN BLOOD OFTHE POPULATION IN THE CZECHREPUBLIC

THE CONCENTRATION LEVELS OFCd, Pb, Hg, Cu, Zn AND Se IN BLOOD OFTHE POPULATION IN THE CZECHREPUBLIC

Knowledge of normal levels of concentrations of trace elements (Cd, Pb, Hg, Cu, Zn, and Se) in the population serves, among others, indesign of regulations concerning health protection, determination of exposure limits and prevention of diseases caused by deficiency oftrace elements. Concentrations of the named elements in whole blood of the Czech population were determined by means of atomicabsorption spectrometry. The blood was collected during 1996–1998 from 1 216 blood donors (896 males and 320 females, average age33 years) and 758 children (397 boys and 361 girls, average age 9.9 years). Mineralisation in a microwave digestion system was used insample preparation. The accuracy of results was checked by means of the Control material Seronorm Whole Blood 404107 and SeronormSerum 704121, Nycomed. Values of concentrations of the trace elements in blood found for adult (medians) were 0.7 mg Cd.l -1 , 800 mgCu.l -1 , 0.78 mg Hg.l -1 , 41 mg Pb.l -1 , 76 mg Se.l -1 , and 5 800 mg Zn.l -1 , respectively. Statistically significant differences between men andwomen have been found in the concentrations of Cu, Hg, Pb, and Zn. In the juvenile population following medians of concentrations havebeen found: 0.15 mg Cd.l -1 , 1 047 mg Cu.l -1 , 0.46 mg Hg.l -1 , 34 mg Pb.l -1 , 69 mg Se.l -1 , and 8 180 mg Zn.l -1. Statistically significant differencesbetween boys and girls were found only in Pb and Zn concentrations. Concentrations of the studied elements correspond to the publishedvalues concerning population not exposed professionally.

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