title: Assessment of reference values for selected elements in a healthy urban population.
abstract: Reference values for 26 elements, namely Al, Ba, Be, Bi, Ca, Cd, Co, Cr, Cu, Fe, Hg, Li, Mg, Mn, Mo, Ni, Pb, Sb, Si, Sn, Sr, Tl, V, W, Zn and Zr are proposed in serum and blood of 110 healthy adults of the urban area of Rome. They were included in the study on the basis of strict criteria of eligibility and exclusion. With the exception of Ba, Bi, Co, Cr, Ni, Sb, Sn Tl in serum, and Bi, Hg, Si, V and W in whole blood, experimental data for each all the other analytes were found to approach a normal distribution. The estimated 5-95% references ranges (in ng ml(-1)) were reported. For several elements the reference ranges observed overlapped information available in the literature. Gender, age, body mass index, smoking habits and alcohol consume were used as grouping variables. Mutual associations were observed for several elements, as follows: Be, Ca, Co, Cr, Cu, Li, Mo, Pb and Zn with sex; Ca, Pb and Si with age (< and > 45 years); Co, Cr, Mo, Sb and Tl with body mass index; Cd and Pb with smoking habit; Cr and Pb with alcohol consume.
authors.affiliation: Dipartimento di Ambiente e Connessa Prevenzione Primaria, Istituto Superiore di Sanità, Rome, Italy. alessandro.alimonti@iss.it
authors.forename: Alessandro
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Alimonti
authors.forename: Beatrice
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Bocca
authors.forename: Emilio
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Mannella
authors.forename: Francesco
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Petrucci
authors.forename: Francesco
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Zennaro
authors.forename: Rodolfo
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Cotichini
authors.forename: Cristina
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: D'Ippolito
authors.forename: Adele
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Agresti
authors.forename: Stefano
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Caimi
authors.forename: Giovanni
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Forte
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001769:Blood; D001774:Blood Chemical Analysis / Q000592:standards*; D004602:Elements; D005192:Family Health; D005260:Female; D006184:Habits; D006801:Humans; D007558:Italy; D008297:Male; D013058:Mass Spectrometry; D008875:Middle Aged; D016011:Normal Distribution; D012016:Reference Values; D012494:Sampling Studies; D044967:Serum; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014505:Urban Population
chemical_list: D004602:Elements