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Evaluating the effect of age and area of residence in the metal and metalloid contents in human hair and urban topsoils

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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.

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Acknowledgments

In memoriam of Prof. Salvador Granero.

The above work is part of a doctoral thesis (Peña-Fernández 2011) which has been funded through the programme EIADES: “Technology Assessment and Remediation of Contaminated Sites” S0505/AMB-0296 and S2009/AMB-1478. Consejería de Educación, Comunidad de Madrid, Spain.

The authors would like to express their sincere appreciation to Kerry Foxall and Jonathan Sherwood for proofreading.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Allied Health Sciences, De Montfort University, The Gateway, Leicester, LE1 9BH, UK

    Antonio Peña-Fernández

  2. Unidad de Toxicología, Departamento de Ciencias Biomédicas, Universidad de Alcalá, Crta. Madrid-Barcelona Km, 33.6, 28871 Alcalá de Henares, Madrid, Spain

    Antonio Peña-Fernández & M. J. González-Muñoz

  3. Departamento de Investigación Agroambiental, IMIDRA, Finca el Encín, Crta. Madrid-Barcelona Km, 38.2, 28800 Alcalá de Henares, Madrid, Spain

    M. C. Lobo-Bedmar

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  1. Antonio Peña-Fernández
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Correspondence to Antonio Peña-Fernández.

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Peña-Fernández, A., González-Muñoz, M.J. & Lobo-Bedmar, M.C. Evaluating the effect of age and area of residence in the metal and metalloid contents in human hair and urban topsoils. Environ Sci Pollut Res 23, 21299–21312 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-016-7352-3

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