title: Cadmium, lead, and copper blood levels in normal children.
abstract: Cadmium, lead, and copper levels were measured in duplicate whole blood samples from 60 apparently normal children, ranging in age from 2 months to 13 years, who were hospitalized for elective surgery. Metals were measured by atomic absorption  spectroscopy after the samples were chemically oxidized and digested. Cadmium was concentrated by dithizone extraction before analysis. Blood cadmium averaged 0.66 mug/100 gm, with a standard deviation of 0.25. No samples had cadmium concentrations less than could be detectable. The average concentration of lead was 15.7 mug/100 gm with a standard deviation of 6.33. Copper averaged 123 mug/100 gm with a standard deviation of 35.5. Tolerance intervals were calculated for each metal in order to estimate the bounds of whole blood metal values in normal children. The intervals containing 95% of normal values with a probability of .95 were 0.22-1.70 mug Cd/100 gm, 0.87-30.5 mug Pb/100 gm, and 40.0-206 mug Cu/100 gm.
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000367:Age Factors; D002104:Cadmium / Q000097:blood*; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003300:Copper / Q000097:blood*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007854:Lead / Q000097:blood*; D008297:Male; D013054:Spectrophotometry, Atomic
chemical_list: D002104:Cadmium; D007854:Lead; D003300:Copper