[Concentrations of selected bioelements and toxic metals and their influence on health status of children and youth residing in Szczecin].

This study was performed in 174 children (59 boys and 115 girls) residing in Szczecin. The objective was to measure the concentrations of heavy metals--lead and cadmium--and some bioelements--magnesium, zinc, copper, calcium, and iron--and to establish relationships between concentrations of elements in serum, erythrocytes, and hair. Mean concentrations of lead in serum and erythrocytes were 0.003 micromol/L (0.07 microg/dL) and 0.96 micromol/L (2.0 microg/dL), respectively (Table 1). Mean concentrations of cadmium in serum and erythrocytes were 0.006 micromol/L (0.07 microg/dL) and 0.02 micromol/L (0.21 microg/dL), respectively (Table 4). In both cases, the maximum allowable concentrations were not exceeded. In hair, the concentrations exceeded the maximum allowable concentration, reaching 0.006 micromol/g dry mass (1.2 microg/g d.m.) for lead and 0.0008 micromol/g d.m. (0.1 microg/g d.m.) for cadmium (Table 3). A positive correlation was found between the concentration of lead in erythrocytes and hair (r = 0.37, p < 0.000001). Concentrations of magnesium in serum and erythrocytes were below the normal range, but were within norm in hair. Mean concentrations of total magnesium in serum, erythrocytes, and hair were 0.69 mmol/L (1.7 mg/dL), 1.6 mmol/L (3.9 mg/dL), and 0.9 micromol/g d.m. (21.5 microg/g d.m.(, respectively (Table 4). 35 children with hypomagnesemia and elevated concentrations of lead and cadmium were placed on magnesium supplementation with Laktomag B6 preparation. This led to significant reduction in the concentrations of lead and cadmium in erythrocytes and hair. Mean concentration of lead diminished from 0.28 micromol/L (5.8 microg/dL) to 0.17 micromol/L (3.6 microg/dL) (p < 0.03) in erythrocytes and from 0.014 micromol/g d.m. (2.9 microg/g d.m.) to 0.007 micromol/g d.m. (1.5 microg/g d.m.) (p < 0.001) (table 5). Mean concentration of cadmium diminished from 0.02 micromol/L (0.23 microg/dL) to 0.015 micromol/L (0.17 microg/dL) in erythrocytes (p < 0.002) and from 0.009 micromol/g d.m. (0.1 microg/g d.m.) to 0.0009 micromol/g d.m. (0.01 microg/g d.m.) in hair (p < 0.02) (Table 6). Magnesium supplementation caused a significant increase in ionized magnesium in serum and and insignificant increase in erythrocytes and hair. No correlations were found in the examined children between hypomagnesemia, elevated levels of lead and cadmium in blood and hair, and health status.