Town and gender effects on hair lead levels in children from three Sardinian towns (Italy) with different environmental backgrounds

This study reports hair lead (PbH) levels measured in 2002 in 193 children from three Sardinian towns: Carbonia, Gonnesa, and Sinnai. Carbonia and Gonnesa are in a polluted area of Sardinia due to their vicinity to the industrial zone of Portovesme. As a consequence of its economy and location, Sinnai is not exposed to lead pollution. PbH concentrations were determined by inductively coupled plasma atomic absorption spectrometry. The aim of this study was to evaluate if hair is a reliable biomarker to determine different degrees of exposure of populations to lead pollution and if there is a tendency to higher accumulation by males or females. The girls of Carbonia had the highest mean PbH value (2.21 mu g/g), followed by the Gonnesa girls (2.03 mu g/g), Carbonia boys (1.86 mu g/g), Gonnesa boys (0.91 mu g/g), and finally the Sinnai boys (0.68 mu g/g) and girls (0.50 mu g/g). Two-way analysis of covariance, with age as covariate, revealed a significant effect of town and sex on log PbH. Spearman's rank correlation coefficient indicated a significant positive concordance between PbH levels and gender (score for males = 1, females = 2). The results suggest that hair is a reliable biomarker to determine different levels of exposure of populations to lead pollution, and they indicate that females tend to accumulate lead in the hair more than males of the same age.