A Comparative Study Based on Gender and Age Dependence of Selected Metals in Scalp Hair

Authors: Khalique, A.¹; Ahmad, S.¹; Anjum, T.¹; Jaffar, M.²; Shah, Munir¹; Shaheen, N.¹; Tariq, Saadia¹; Manzoor, S.¹

Source: Environmental Monitoring and Assessment, Volume 104, Numbers 1-3, May 2005 , pp. 45-57(13)

Publisher: Springer

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Abstract:

Levels of 10 metals (Ca, Mg, Fe, Zn, Cu, Mn, Cd, Co, Cr and Ni) in the scalp hair of male and female donors, with age groups between 3 and 100 years, were determined by ICP-AES. In total, 58 male and 30 female hair samples were analyzed in triplicate. The donors belonged to the rural area of district Chakwal, a well-known typical non-urban site in Pakistan. Calcium showed the highest concentration of 462

g/g in the hair of males and 870

g/g in those of females followed by Zn, at 208 and 251

g/g for the two sexes. For male donors, Cd showed the lowest concentration (1.15

g/g) while for female donors Co remained at minimum level (0.92

g/g). The order of decreasing metal concentration in the hair of male donors was: Ca > Zn > Mg > Fe > Cu > Mn > Ni > Cr > Co > Cd while that for female donors it was: Ca > Zn > Mg > Fe > Cu > Mn > Cr > Ni > Cd > Co. The female group exhibited enhanced levels of all selected metals except Fe and Co in their hair as compared with the male counterparts. A strong bivariate positive correlation was found between Fe and Zn (r = 0.841) for the hair samples from male category while for the female category, strong positive correlations were observed between Ca–Mg (r = 0.617), Ca–Zn (r = 0.569), Ca–Mn (r = 0.565), Mg–Mn (r = 0.655), Cr–Cu (r = 0.655) and Cr–Ni (r = 0.685). The distribution of metals in the hair of donors with respect to different age groups was also investigated for both genders. The study showed that in case of males, the concentration of all selected metals decreased with increasing age except for Cu, Co and Cr. However, for females the hair metal levels increased with age, except for Co for which the concentration decreased with age. No appreciable change in the metal concentration was observed as a function of age for the combined sexes.

Keywords: age and sex dependence; hair analysis; heavy metals in scalp hair; Pakistan

Document Type: Research article

DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10661-005-8813-1

Affiliations: 1: Department of Chemistry, Quaid-i-Azam University, Islamabad, Pakistan, 2: Department of Chemistry, Quaid-i-Azam University, Islamabad, Pakistan, Email: mjaffarqau@hotmail.com

Publication date: 2005-05-01

A Comparative Study Based on Gender and Age Dependence of Selected Metals in Scalp Hair

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