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The Time Trend of Blood Lead and Cadmium Levels in Rural Chinese Children: China Nutrition and Health Survey 2002 and 2012

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Abstract

This study was to investigate blood lead (Pb) and cadmium (Cd) levels and time trend in rural Chinese children derived from the China Nutrition and Health Survey 2002 and 2012 (CNHS 2002, CNHS 2012). In total, 1698 and 1581 of rural Chinese children were selected from the CNHS 2002 and the CNHS 2012 databases, respectively. The blood Pb and Cd levels were determined by inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometer (ICP-MS), whilst the prevalence of blood Pb levels >5 µg/dL and blood Cd levels >0.5 µg/L and the corresponding reference values (RV95s: the upper limit of 95% confidence interval of 95th percentile) were together calculated. From the CNHS 2002 to the CNHS 2012, median concentrations in blood were severally decreased from 6.3 to 3.1 µg/dL for Pb and from 0.64 to 0.39 µg/L for Cd. The prevalence of blood Pb levels >5 µg/dL had decreased from 63.6 to 14.2%, together with blood Cd levels >0.5 µg/L prevalence from 62.7 to 33.5%, respectively. The RV95s of blood Pb and Cd levels were 15.2 µg/dL and 1.54 µg/L in the CNHS 2002, as well as 6.3 µg/dL and 1.12 µg/L in the CNHS 2012. In conclusion, blood Pb and Cd levels had been obviously improved in rural Chinese children during the past 10 years. However, the risks of Pb and Cd exposure are still serious and required to have continuous health monitoring and evaluation, even call for greater collaboration of the government and society.

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Data Availability

The data used to support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.

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Acknowledgements

We are very grateful to all the team members and participants involved in the China Nutrition and Health Survey 2002 and 2012.

Funding

This study was sponsored by the Danone Nutrition Fund (Grant No. DIC 2017-06) and the Young Scholar Scientific Research Foundation of Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention (Grant No. 2018A204).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. National Institute for Nutrition and Health of Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Beijing, 100050, China

    Xiaobing Liu, Huidi Zhang, Jianhua Piao, Lichen Yang & Xiaoguang Yang

  2. Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Beijing, 102206, China

    Yu Zhang

  3. School of Food and Drug, Shenzhen Polytechnic, Shenzhen, Guangdong, 518055, China

    Jun Wang

  4. Shenzhen Center for Chronic Disease Control, Shenzhen, 518020, Guangdong, China

    Hongxing Tan

Authors
  1. Xiaobing Liu
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  2. Huidi Zhang
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  3. Yu Zhang
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  4. Jun Wang
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  5. Hongxing Tan
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  6. Jianhua Piao
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  7. Lichen Yang
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  8. Xiaoguang Yang
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Contributions

Xiaobing Liu and Xiaoguang Yang conceived and designed the conduction of this study; Xiaobing Liu, Huidi Zhang, Yu Zhang, Jun Wang, Hongxing Tan, and Lichen Yang performed the experiment; Xiaobing Liu wrote the manuscript; Xiaoguang Yang and Jianhua Piao reviewed the manuscript.

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Correspondence to Xiaobing Liu or Xiaoguang Yang.

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Liu, X., Zhang, H., Zhang, Y. et al. The Time Trend of Blood Lead and Cadmium Levels in Rural Chinese Children: China Nutrition and Health Survey 2002 and 2012. Biol Trace Elem Res 201, 2162–2169 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12011-022-03333-0

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12011-022-03333-0

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