Distributions of heavy metals in maternal and cord blood and the association with infant birth weight in China.
OBJECTIVE
To measure serum levels of heavy metals in Chinese pregnant women and their newborns, and to evaluate the association of these metals with infant birth weight.


METHODS
We measured serum concentrations of lead (Pb), thallium (Tl), cadmium (Cd), selenium (Se), arsenic (As), nickle (Ni), vanadium (V), cobalt (Co), and mercury (Hg) in 81 mother-infant pairs using an inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry method. Multiple linear regression analyses were used to evaluate the associations of these heavy metals with infant birth weight.


RESULTS
Se, Pb, As, and Cd showed the highest detection rates (98.8%) in both the maternal and cord blood, followed by Tl, which was detected in 79.0% and 71.6% of the maternal and cord blood samples, respectively. Pb had the highest concentrations in both the maternal and cord blood samples of all toxic metals detected, with concentrations of 23.1 ng/g and 22.0 ng/g, respectively. No significant associations were observed between any heavy metals and birth weight. However, Tl in the maternal and cord blood was most notably inversely associated with birth weight.


CONCLUSIONS
Se intake was low in Chinese women and their newborns, whereas Pb had the highest concentrations in both the maternal and cord blood samples of all toxic metals detected. Tl was a unique pollution source in this population, and Tl levels were shown to have the largest effect on decreasing infant birth weight in this pilot study. Further research incorporating larger sample sizes is needed to investigate the effects of prenatal exposure to heavy metals--especially Tl and Pb--on birth outcome in Chinese infants.
Xiaobin
X
Hu
Tongzhang
T
Zheng
Yibin
Y
Cheng
Theodore
T
Holford
Shaobin
S
Lin
Brian
B
Leaderer
Jie
J
Qiu
Bryan A
BA
Bassig
Kunchong
K
Shi
Yawei
Y
Zhang
Jianjun
J
Niu
Yong
Y
Zhu
Yonghong
Y
Li
Huan
H
Guo
Qiong
Q
Chen
Jianqing
J
Zhang
Shunqing
S
Xu
Yinlong
Y
Jin
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001724:Birth Weight / Q000502:physiology*; D002681:China / Q000453:epidemiology; D015331:Cohort Studies; D005260:Female; D005312:Fetal Blood / Q000737:chemistry*; D006801:Humans; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D008297:Male; D019216:Metals, Heavy / Q000097:blood*; D015999:Multivariate Analysis; D011247:Pregnancy; D055815:Young Adult
D019216:Metals, Heavy