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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Public Health
Sec. Environmental Health and Exposome
Volume 12 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2024.1357588
This article is part of the Research Topic Chemical contaminants in natural environments and human health implications View all 11 articles

Internal blood lead exposure levels in permanent residents of Jiangxi Province and its effects on routine hematological and biochemical indices

Provisionally accepted
Wenxin He Wenxin He 1Junjie Fu Junjie Fu 2*Ruiyi Fu Ruiyi Fu 3Xiaoguang Song Xiaoguang Song 2Siyue Huang Siyue Huang 4Yujue Wang Yujue Wang 5Keke Lu Keke Lu 6Hao Wu Hao Wu 1
  • 1 Nanchang University, Nanchang, China
  • 2 Jiangxi Provincial Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Nanchang, China
  • 3 University College, University of Melbourne, Parkville, Victoria, Australia
  • 4 Dermatology Hospital of Jiangxi Province, Jiangxi, China
  • 5 Nanchang Health Promotion Center, Jiangxi, China
  • 6 Jiangxi Provincial Patriotic Hygiene and Health Promotion Center, Jiangxi, China

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Background: Lead exposure levels are closely linked to human health and can cause damage to multiple organ systems, including the blood system and liver. However, due to insufficient evidence, the effects of lead exposure on hematological and biochemical indices have not been fully established.Objective: This study aims to explore the blood lead levels of permanent residents in Jiangxi Province and analyze the factors affecting blood lead levels and the impact of blood lead levels on hematological and biochemical indices. Methods: We conducted a cross-sectional study including questionnaires, health examinations, and blood sample examinations on 720 randomly selected permanent residents (3-79 years) in Jiangxi province in 2018. The blood lead levels were measured using inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry. Routine hematological and biochemical tests were determined by qualified medical institutions using automated hematology analyzers and biochemistry analyzers. Results: The geometric mean of blood lead concentration in permanent residents of Jiangxi province was 20.45 g/L. Gender, age, annual household income, smoking, and hypertension were the influencing factors for blood lead levels. For each 1 μg/L increase in blood lead, the risks of elevated red blood cell count (from low to high), platelet volume distribution width, alkaline phosphatase (from low to high), and cholesterol increased by 2.4%, 1.6%, 3.6%, and 2.3%, respectively, whereas the risks of elevation of direct bilirubin and total bilirubin both decreased by 1.7%.Conclusions: The blood lead level in permanent residents of Jiangxi Province is higher than the national average. Higher blood lead levels were found in men than in women; blood lead levels were positively correlated with age but negatively correlated with annual household income; smoking and hypertension are risk factors for elevated blood lead; and blood lead levels affect routine hematological and biochemical markers such as red blood cell count, platelet volume distribution width, direct bilirubin, total bilirubin, alkaline phosphatase, and cholesterol.

    Keywords: Blood lead levels, Hematological indices, Biochemical indices, heavy metals, biomonitoring

    Received: 18 Dec 2023; Accepted: 27 Aug 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 He, Fu, Fu, Song, Huang, Wang, Lu and Wu. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Junjie Fu, Jiangxi Provincial Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Nanchang, China

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