Serum Iron, Zinc and its relationship with Blood lead levels among lead exposed worker from lead battery plant

Abstract

Bhavani Shankara Bagepally, Ravibabu Kalahasthi, Tapu Barman

Objective: Present study was conceived to examine the relationship between blood lead level (BLL) and serum Iron (Fe) and Zinc (Zn) in lead-exposed workers from lead Battery plant. Methods: The study design was cross-sectional. Ninety seven male workers involved in the lead battery manufacturing plant were considered as study subjects. BLL, serum Zn and Fe were estimated using Atomic Absorption Spectrophotometer. Haematological parameters were determined by using an Fx-19E haematology analyser. The renal function tests - creatinine and blood urea nitrogen (BUN) determined by standard methods. The statistical analysis was performed on SPSS version 16. Results: The body mass index (BMI) of subjects was 25.8±3.0. The systolic blood Pressure (SBP) was 127.8±14.5 mm Hg while diastolic blood Pressure (DBP) was 77.8±10.8 mm Hg. The workers with >30 µg/dL BLL (Fe 1745 ± 723 µg/L) had significantly (P<0.05) lower serum Fe levels as compared to workers with ≤ 30 µg/dL BLL (Fe 2063±784 µg/L), serum Zn levels (0.70 ± 0.13 µg/ mL versus 0.74 ± 0.14 µg/mL respectively) and renal function tests(serum creatinine and BUN) did not differ between these groups. The serum Fe showed significant negative correlation (r=-0.242, P=0.017) with BLL. Multivariate analysis between the four quartiles (Q1 to Q4) based on BLLs showed that the SBP (F=3.483, with 95% CI of 125.2 to 130.6 mm of Hg, P=0.004) and mean arterial pressure (MAP) (F= 2.505 with 95 % CI of 92.4 to 96.6 mm of Hg, P=0.027) significantly differed between four BLL quartiles with trends of increase of SBP as well as MAP with higher BLL. Conclusion: Study observed negative association between BLL and serum Fe among the non-anaemic lead battery workers and reiterated the earlier finding of positive association between blood pressure and BLL.