title: Study of heavy metal levels among farmers of Muda Agricultural Development Authority, Malaysia.
abstract: Heavy metals, particularly cadmium, lead, and arsenic, constitute a significant potential threat to human health. This study was conducted to determine the levels of cadmium, lead, and arsenic in nail samples from farmers at Muda Agricultural Development Authority (MADA), Kedah, Malaysia, and evaluate factors that can contribute to their accumulations. A total of 116 farmers participated in this study. Inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) was used to analyze concentration of heavy metals in the nail samples and questionnaires were given to participants to get demographic, health status, and their agricultural activities data. In this paper, the level of heavy metals was within the normal range and varies according to demographic factors. We found that there were significant correlations between working period with level of lead and arsenic (r=0.315 and r=0.242, resp., P<0.01) and age with lead level (r=0.175, P<0.05). Our findings suggested that agricultural activities could contribute to the accumulation of heavy metals in farmers. Hence, the control of environmental levels of and human exposure to these metals to prevent adverse health effects is still an important public health issue.
authors.affiliation: Biomedical Science Programme, Faculty of Health Sciences, School of Diagnostic and Applied Health Sciences, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, Jalan Raja Muda Abdul Aziz, 50300 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. rohi@medic.ukm.my
authors.forename: Ahmad Rohi
authors.initials: AR
authors.lastname: Ghazali
authors.forename: Nur Ezzazulianie
authors.initials: NE
authors.lastname: Abdul Razak
authors.forename: Mohd Sham
authors.initials: MS
authors.lastname: Othman
authors.forename: Hidayatulfathi
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Othman
authors.forename: Ismarulyusda
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Ishak
authors.forename: Syarif Husin
authors.initials: SH
authors.lastname: Lubis
authors.forename: Nihayah
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Mohammad
authors.forename: Zariyantey
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Abd Hamid
authors.forename: Zaliha
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Harun
authors.forename: Firdaus
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Kamarulzaman
authors.forename: Rozaini
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Abdullah
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D000383:Agriculture; D001151:Arsenic / Q000378:metabolism*; D002104:Cadmium / Q000378:metabolism*; D004781:Environmental Exposure; D004784:Environmental Monitoring; D004785:Environmental Pollutants / Q000378:metabolism*; D006801:Humans; D007854:Lead / Q000378:metabolism*; D008296:Malaysia; D008297:Male; D013058:Mass Spectrometry; D009262:Nails / Q000378:metabolism*; D018709:Statistics, Nonparametric; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires
chemical_list: D004785:Environmental Pollutants; D002104:Cadmium; D007854:Lead; D001151:Arsenic