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Investigation of lead concentrations in whole blood, plasma and urine as biomarkers for biological monitoring of lead exposure

Sommar, Johan Nilsson ; Hedmer, Maria LU orcid ; Lundh, Thomas LU ; Nilsson, Leif ; Skerfving, Staffan LU and Bergdahl, Ingvar A. (2014) In Journal of Exposure Science & Environmental Epidemiology 24(1). p.51-57
Abstract
Lead in blood is a major concept in biomonitoring of exposure but investigations of its alternatives are scarce. The aim of the study was to describe different lead biomarkers' variances, day-to-day and between individuals, estimating their fraction of the total variance. Repeated sampling of whole blood, plasma and urine were conducted for 48 lead-exposed men and 20 individuals under normal environmental lead exposure, in total 603 measurements. For lead workers, the fraction of the total variance attributed to differences between individuals was 91% for whole-blood lead (geometric mean 227 mg/l; geometric standard deviation (GSD): 1.55 mg/l); plasma 78% (0.57 mg/l; GSD: 1.84 mg/l); density-adjusted urine 82%; and unadjusted urine 75%... (More)
Lead in blood is a major concept in biomonitoring of exposure but investigations of its alternatives are scarce. The aim of the study was to describe different lead biomarkers' variances, day-to-day and between individuals, estimating their fraction of the total variance. Repeated sampling of whole blood, plasma and urine were conducted for 48 lead-exposed men and 20 individuals under normal environmental lead exposure, in total 603 measurements. For lead workers, the fraction of the total variance attributed to differences between individuals was 91% for whole-blood lead (geometric mean 227 mg/l; geometric standard deviation (GSD): 1.55 mg/l); plasma 78% (0.57 mg/l; GSD: 1.84 mg/l); density-adjusted urine 82%; and unadjusted urine 75% (23.7 mg/l; GSD: 2.48 mg/l). For the individuals under normal lead exposure, the corresponding fractions were 95% of the total variance for whole blood (20.7 mg/l; GSD: 8.6 mg/l), 15% for plasma (0.09 mg/l; GSD: 0.04 mg/l), 87% for creatinine-adjusted urine and 34% for unadjusted (10.8 mg/l; GSD: 6.7 mg/l). Lead concentration in whole blood is the biomarker with the best ability to discriminate between individuals with different mean concentration. Urinary and plasma lead also performed acceptably in lead workers, but at low exposures plasma lead was too imprecise. Urinary adjustments appear not to increase the between-individual fraction of the total variance among lead workers but among those with normal lead exposure. (Less)
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author
; ; ; ; and
organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
keywords
biomarker, environmental exposure, lead, occupational exposure, random, effect, variance between individuals
in
Journal of Exposure Science & Environmental Epidemiology
volume
24
issue
1
pages
51 - 57
publisher
Nature Publishing Group
external identifiers
  • wos:000328604900008
  • scopus:84890798329
  • pmid:23443239
ISSN
1559-064X
DOI
10.1038/jes.2013.4
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
f487b8e2-f1c4-4557-9cd8-c686210b80cd (old id 4261909)
date added to LUP
2016-04-01 14:24:44
date last changed
2022-04-22 03:07:50
@article{f487b8e2-f1c4-4557-9cd8-c686210b80cd,
  abstract     = {{Lead in blood is a major concept in biomonitoring of exposure but investigations of its alternatives are scarce. The aim of the study was to describe different lead biomarkers' variances, day-to-day and between individuals, estimating their fraction of the total variance. Repeated sampling of whole blood, plasma and urine were conducted for 48 lead-exposed men and 20 individuals under normal environmental lead exposure, in total 603 measurements. For lead workers, the fraction of the total variance attributed to differences between individuals was 91% for whole-blood lead (geometric mean 227 mg/l; geometric standard deviation (GSD): 1.55 mg/l); plasma 78% (0.57 mg/l; GSD: 1.84 mg/l); density-adjusted urine 82%; and unadjusted urine 75% (23.7 mg/l; GSD: 2.48 mg/l). For the individuals under normal lead exposure, the corresponding fractions were 95% of the total variance for whole blood (20.7 mg/l; GSD: 8.6 mg/l), 15% for plasma (0.09 mg/l; GSD: 0.04 mg/l), 87% for creatinine-adjusted urine and 34% for unadjusted (10.8 mg/l; GSD: 6.7 mg/l). Lead concentration in whole blood is the biomarker with the best ability to discriminate between individuals with different mean concentration. Urinary and plasma lead also performed acceptably in lead workers, but at low exposures plasma lead was too imprecise. Urinary adjustments appear not to increase the between-individual fraction of the total variance among lead workers but among those with normal lead exposure.}},
  author       = {{Sommar, Johan Nilsson and Hedmer, Maria and Lundh, Thomas and Nilsson, Leif and Skerfving, Staffan and Bergdahl, Ingvar A.}},
  issn         = {{1559-064X}},
  keywords     = {{biomarker; environmental exposure; lead; occupational exposure; random; effect; variance between individuals}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  number       = {{1}},
  pages        = {{51--57}},
  publisher    = {{Nature Publishing Group}},
  series       = {{Journal of Exposure Science & Environmental Epidemiology}},
  title        = {{Investigation of lead concentrations in whole blood, plasma and urine as biomarkers for biological monitoring of lead exposure}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/jes.2013.4}},
  doi          = {{10.1038/jes.2013.4}},
  volume       = {{24}},
  year         = {{2014}},
}