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National estimates of blood lead, cadmium, and mercury levels in the Korean general adult population

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An Erratum to this article was published on 21 August 2010

Abstract

Objectives

To assess the extent of exposure to lead, cadmium, and mercury in the Korean general adult population using a representative sample.

Methods

We studied blood concentrations of three heavy metals in a representative sample of 1,997 Koreans as part of the Third Korean National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (KNHANES III) performed in 2005.

Results

The geometric means of the blood lead, cadmium, and mercury concentrations were 2.61 μg/dL, 1.53 μg/L, and 4.15 μg/L, respectively [95% confidence intervals (CIs), 2.50–2.71, 1.48–1.58, and 3.94–4.36, respectively]. Women had significantly lower blood lead and mercury concentrations in adjusted and unadjusted analyses but no difference between genders was observed in blood cadmium analysis. The geometric means of blood lead and mercury levels were higher in subjects older than 40 years than in those younger than 40 years. Smoking status only affected the blood lead concentration, with this being higher in smokers than in nonsmokers. Blood cadmium levels did not differ with demographic and lifestyle variables after covariate adjustment. Blood mercury concentrations were higher in those who consumed alcohol and also increased with the frequency of fish consumption.

Conclusions

This biomonitoring study of blood heavy metals in the Korean general population as part of KNHANES III provides important reference data stratified by demographic and lifestyle factors that will be useful for the ongoing surveillance of environmental exposure of the Korean general population to heavy metals.

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The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

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  1. Institute of Environmental and Occupational Medicine, College of Medicine, Soonchunhyang University, 646 Eupnae-ri, Shinchang-myun, Asan, Choongnam, 336-745, Korea

    Nam-Soo Kim & Byung-Kook Lee

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  1. Nam-Soo Kim
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Correspondence to Byung-Kook Lee.

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An erratum to this article can be found at http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s00420-010-0572-9

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Kim, NS., Lee, BK. National estimates of blood lead, cadmium, and mercury levels in the Korean general adult population. Int Arch Occup Environ Health 84, 53–63 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00420-010-0522-6

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