Determination of Some Metal Ions in Blood by AAS and Assessment of Their Toxicity in Exudative Lung Disorder Patients

Metal-induced respiratory diseases are not well documented in Bangladesh. The objective of this study is to assess metal toxicity in terms of concentration levels in exudative lung disorder patients. After acid digestion of blood collected from exudative lung disorder patients, the concentration of eight elements (Cd, Cr, Cu, Pb, Mn, Ni, Fe and Zn) was measured using AAS. The age of the exudative lung disorder patients of both genders ranged from 20 to 75 years, living in urban and rural areas from 11 districts of the Chittagong division. Patients were categorized into three groups: smokers, nonsmokers and former smokers. The role of smoking in the metal toxicity of exudative lung disorder patients was also investigated. Blood samples were collected from healthy persons aged 20-35 years. They were used as a control to compare the metal status of patients. It is shown that current smokers with lung diseases have lower Zn levels in their blood than the patients of former smokers. Linear regression analysis for Ni and Fe in the blood of smokers showed a significant correlation between Fe and Ni at p=0.008 and p=0.003. Correlation of Mn was insignificant at p=0.371, which clearly indicates that smoking may not be a probable factor for increasing Mn in blood. But the level of Fe and Mn in the blood of nonsmokers showed a strong and positive correlation with the coefficient value of 0.814 (p<0.001). The investigation showed that metal toxicity is caused more by breathing polluted air from fuel combustion in industries and vehicles than by smoking.