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Blood-lead level in humans and drug addiction: a comprehensive study in Iran

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Abstract

Drug abuse has a high prevalence worldwide and causes many health-related disorders. There are limited human exposure studies on establishing lead exposure levels and their propensity for drug addiction. In the present study, blood samples were tested for lead (Pb) concentrations in illicit drug users together with the related symptoms in comparison with control group of non-drug users. The study was performed on 250 volunteers divided equally in four drug groups, namely, opioids, hashish, methadone, and methamphetamine, and one control group of non-drug users. Participants were recruited from drug addiction clinics and camps in Kashan city, Iran, who were using drugs continuously for more than 1 year. Control group was recruited from companions of the patients with no drug use history. In the investigated groups of drug users, the highest blood-lead level (BLL) concentrations were observed in the opioid group (mean 37.57 µg/dL) with almost 3.7 times higher than in the control group (mean 3.39 µg/dL). In the methamphetamine group, type of occupation had the significant association with BLL concentrations. The positive correlation was revealed in the opioid and methadone groups for BLL concentrations and the duration of drug usage. In the opioid group, the highest BLL concentrations were observed among users who used both methods of drug use: smoking and eating. Also, several behavioral and life-style factors were identified which influence the blood-lead concentration in the drug users. The results of our study revealed that the BLL concentrations in investigated drug users’ groups were significantly higher than in the control group (P < 0.001). That can be related with the Pb contents in illicitly used drugs. Apart other adverse health effects, long-term illicit drug use might cause to lead poisoning.

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Data availability

The datasets generated and/or analyzed during the current study are not publicly available because the intellectual property is owned by the funding body. They may be available from the corresponding author on reasonable request containing the approval from the associated funding body.

Abbreviations

AAS:

Atomic absorption spectrometer

ANOVA:

Analysis of variance

BLL:

Blood-lead level

CBC:

Complete blood count

HNO3 :

Nitric acid

K2EDTA:

Dipotassium ethylene diamine tetraacetic acid

NaOH:

Sodium hydroxide

NH4VO3 :

Ammonium metavanadate

Pb:

Lead

QA/QC:

Quality assurance/quality control

QCM:

Quality control material

SD:

Standard deviation

UNODC:

United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime

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Acknowledgements

This study was the thesis on General Physician (Zahra Aghaei). We are thankful of all patients who participated in this research.

Funding

The study received a research grant provided bythe Research Deputy of Kashan University of Medical Sciences (KAUMS/400153).

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Addiction Studies, School of Medical and Clinical Research Development Unit-Matini/Kargarnejad Hospital, Kashan University of Medical Sciences, Kashan, Iran

    Amir Ghaderi & Nader Molavi

  2. Department of Occupational Health Engineering, School of Health, Kashan University of Medical Sciences, Kashan, Iran

    Amir Hossein Khoshakhlagh

  3. Department of Environmental Protection, Faculty of Geology, Geophysics and Environmental Protection, AGH University of Krakow, Al. Mickiewicza 30, 30-059, Krakow, Poland

    Agnieszka Gruszecka-Kosowska

  4. Department of Toxicology and Pharmacology, School of Pharmacy, Mazandaran University of Medical Sciences, Sari, Iran

    Fatemeh Alemi

  5. Department of Psychiatry, Kashan University of Medical Sciences, Kashan, Iran

    Pooya Hazegh

  6. Student Research Committee, Kashan University of Medical Sciences, Kashan, Iran

    Zahra Aghaei & Mojtaba Mahdavi

  7. Department of Addiction Studies, School of Behavioral Sciences and Mental Health (Tehran Institute of Psychiatry), Iran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran

    Neda Vahed

  8. Department of Pharmacy, Acharya BM Ready College of Pharmacy, Rajive Gandhi University of Health Sciences, Bangalore, Karnataka, India

    Somayeh Ghadami Dehkohneh

  9. Drug Abuse Treatment Center, Kashan University of Medical Sciences, Kashan, Iran

    Fatemeh Ostadmohammady

  10. Department of Environment and Geography, University of York, York, UK

    Darpan Das

Authors
  1. Amir Ghaderi
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  2. Amir Hossein Khoshakhlagh
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  3. Agnieszka Gruszecka-Kosowska
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  4. Fatemeh Alemi
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  6. Zahra Aghaei
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  7. Nader Molavi
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  8. Mojtaba Mahdavi
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  9. Neda Vahed
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  10. Somayeh Ghadami Dehkohneh
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  12. Darpan Das
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Contributions

AGh, AHKh, ZAG, NM, and MM contributed in design, conception, and statistical analysis. AGh, FA, PH, ZAG, NM, MM, NV, SGD, and FO contributed in data collection and manuscript drafting. AG-K and DD were involved in editing the article. All researcher approved the final text version for submission. AHKh supervised the study.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Amir Hossein Khoshakhlagh.

Ethics declarations

Ethics approval and consent to participate

All participants gave their signed written informed consent letters. The study protocol was approved by the Ethics Committee of Kashan University of Medical Sciences “approval no IR.KAUMS.MEDNT.REC.1400.203”. All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments.

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Not applicable.

Competing interests

The authors declare no competing interests.

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Responsible Editor: Lotfi Aleya

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Highlights

• There are limited human exposure studies on lead exposure related to drug addiction.

• Blood-lead level contents were investigated in 4 groups of drugs users: opioids, hashish, methadone, and methamphetamine.

• The highest blood-lead level (BLL) concentrations were observed in the hashish group.

• The results indicated that drug addiction might cause a public health issue of lead poisoning.

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Ghaderi, A., Khoshakhlagh, A.H., Gruszecka-Kosowska, A. et al. Blood-lead level in humans and drug addiction: a comprehensive study in Iran. Environ Sci Pollut Res 30, 112071–112085 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-023-30179-3

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