title: Evaluating the effect of age and area of residence in the metal and metalloid contents in human hair and urban topsoils.
abstract: Monitoring the levels of trace elements in hair can allow estimating the effects of the geographical location and also can provide a notion of the metal body burden. However, the use of human hair is controversial due to the different confounding factors that could affect the presence of trace elements in hair. As a result, a comprehensive monitoring study was performed in Alcalá de Henares, one of the major cities in the Madrid region, Spain. Trace elements have been monitored in urban topsoils and in human hair of two well-defined and healthy groups of population: children (6-9 years) and adolescents (13-16 years). The city was divided into four areas or zones with different characteristics to assess the possible effect of area of residence and age in the presence of Al, As, Be, Cd, Cr, Cu, Hg, Mn, Pb, Sn, Ti, Tl and Zn in soils and hair. There is no current hypothesis that explains the possible effect of the area of monitoring in the distribution of Be, Cr, Ni, Sn and Ti found in these urban soils, maybe because urban soils receive high disturbance, and there are many factors involved. The presence of most of the trace elements monitored was significantly higher in the hair of the children population, except for Sn and Zn. This could be attributed mainly to dietary habits. Other factors influencing metal content in hair such as environmental factors would have had a minimal effect in the population groups here studied. Finally, none of the levels of trace elements studied in hair were significantly correlated with levels measured in the topsoils of public parks in Alcalá de Henares, with the exception of Pb in adolescent participants.
authors: School of Allied Health Sciences, De Montfort University, The Gateway, Leicester, LE1 9BH, UK. Antonio.Pena-Fernandez@dmu.ac.uk.|Unidad de Toxicología, Departamento de Ciencias Biomédicas, Universidad de Alcalá, Crta. Madrid-Barcelona Km, 33.6, 28871 Alcalá de Henares, Madrid, Spain. Antonio.Pena-Fernandez@dmu.ac.uk.
authors: Antonio
authors: http://orcid.org/0000-0002-5690-5445
authors: A
authors: Peña-Fernández
authors: Unidad de Toxicología, Departamento de Ciencias Biomédicas, Universidad de Alcalá, Crta. Madrid-Barcelona Km, 33.6, 28871 Alcalá de Henares, Madrid, Spain.
authors: M J
authors: MJ
authors: González-Muñoz
authors: Departamento de Investigación Agroambiental, IMIDRA, Finca el Encín, Crta. Madrid-Barcelona Km, 38.2, 28800 Alcalá de Henares, Madrid, Spain.
authors: M C
authors: MC
authors: Lobo-Bedmar
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000367:Age Factors; D002648:Child; D002947:Cities; D004784:Environmental Monitoring; D005260:Female; D006197:Hair / Q000737:chemistry*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D058955:Metalloids / Q000032:analysis*; D008670:Metals / Q000032:analysis*; D012987:Soil / Q000737:chemistry*; D013030:Spain; D014131:Trace Elements / Q000032:analysis
chemical_list: D058955:Metalloids; D008670:Metals; D012987:Soil; D014131:Trace Elements
keywords: Age; Area of residence; Biomonitoring; Human hair; Metals and metalloids; Soils