title: Uncertainty of inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry based measurements: an application to the analysis of urinary barium, cesium, antimony and tungsten.
abstract: The wide use of barium (Ba), cesium (Cs), antimony (Sb) and tungsten (W) in many industrial and agricultural fields causes the increased release of these metals into the environment, laying the basis for health risk. To assess the exposure for the general population, the development of adequate and reliable analytical techniques becomes compulsory. This study refers to the quantification of urinary Ba, Cs, Sb and W levels by both quadrupole (Q) and sector field (SF) inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS). The two procedures were compared for their performances and their measurement uncertainties. The limits of detection were (Q and SF) 23.0 and 5.21 ng L(-1) for Ba; 21.1 and 7.52 ng L(-1) for Cs; 1.09 and 0.43 ng L(-1) for Sb; and 0.36 and 0.49 ng L(-1) for W. The trueness was better than 93.3% and the precision less than 12% for both techniques. Relative expanded uncertainties of the analytical procedures, at the median levels found in the general population, were below 5% for all the elements with both ICP-MS techniques. The uncertainties related to the calibration and repeatability were the parameters most influencing the final analytical performance. The urinary median values observed in healthy subjects from central Italy were 1146, 4301, 60.8 and 48.5 ng L(-1) for Ba, Cs, Sb and W, respectively.
authors.affiliation: Department of Environment and Primary Prevention, Italian National Institute of Health, Rome, Italy.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Alimonti
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Forte
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Spezia
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Gatti
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Mincione
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Ronchi
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Bavazzano
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Bocca
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Minoia
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000965:Antimony / Q000592:standards / Q000652:urine; D001464:Barium / Q000592:standards / Q000652:urine; D002586:Cesium / Q000592:standards / Q000652:urine; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007558:Italy; D008297:Male; D013058:Mass Spectrometry / Q000379:methods*; D019216:Metals, Heavy / Q000592:standards / Q000652:urine*; D008875:Middle Aged; D012016:Reference Values; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D014414:Tungsten / Q000592:standards / Q000652:urine
chemical_list: D019216:Metals, Heavy; D002586:Cesium; D001464:Barium; D000965:Antimony; D014414:Tungsten