Objective To investigate the burdens of lead and cadmium and the content of lipid peroxide of occupational populations in a lead-zinc mining area.
Methods A cross-sectional epidemiological design was used to carry out health examination and on-site collection of blood and hair samples among 146 workers in a lead-zinc mining area and 54 controls in a nonmining area. Hair cadmium, hair zinc, blood cadmium, blood zinc, and serum superoxide dismutase (T-SOD), malonyldialdehyde (MDA), and glutathione peroxidase (GSH-Px) were detected and analyzed.
Results Compared with the control group, the exposure group reported higher levels of hair zinc, hair cadmium, and blood cadmium (P<0.01 or P<0.05) and lower levels of blood zinc, T-SOD, and GSH-Px (P<0.01 or P<0.05). No statistical difference was found in the MDA level between the two groups. The workers with service length ≤ 10 years showed lower levels of hair cadmium and blood cadmium than those of the worker with service length >11 years (P<0.05).
Conclusion Long-term exposure of the occupational population in the lead-zinc mining area to cadmium could significantly change the levels of T-SOD, MDA, and GSH-Px, enhance lipid peroxidation, and decline antioxidantion.
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