The association between active/passive smoking and toxic metals among pregnant women in Greece

Abstract

1. Exposure to toxic metals during pregnancy may have detrimental effects on foetal development. We assessed the role of sociodemographic characteristics and active and passive smoking on blood concentrations of metals (As, Cd, Pb, Hg, Sb, U, Mn and Mo).

2. Venous blood drawn from 50 pregnant women, randomly selected from the mother–child birth cohort ‘Rhea’. Extensive questionnaire data on active and passive smoking were collected. Urinary cotinine was measured to validate self-reported exposure and non-smoking status.

3. Smokers had higher concentrations of Cd (1.0 µg/L) as compared with non-smokers (0.29 µg/L, P < 0.001) and a tendency for higher As and Hg. Among non-smokers, blood As and Hg concentrations were also associated with exposure to passive smoking in public venues and the family home and to overall greater secondhand smoke (SHS) exposure (As: 0.97µg/L among heavy-exposed compared with 0.20 µg/L among the low-exposed, P < 0.05; Hg: 2.1 µg/L vs. 0.9 µg/L respectively, P < 0.05). Controlling for fish and seafood intake altered the statistical significance but not the direction of the above associations.

4. Smoking was associated with higher Cd concentrations in pregnant women, although the association between passive smoking and elevated As and Hg concentrations was indicative, however inconclusive.

Keywords::

• Passive smoking
• smoking
• pregnancy
• heavy metals
• cadmium

Acknowledgements

Part of this research was funded by a Flight Attendant Medical Research Institute (FAMRI) grant (Clinical Investigator Award 072058). This work was partly supported by the EU Integrated Project NewGeneris, 6th Framework Programme (Contract no. FOOD-CT-2005-016320) and by the EU funded project HiWATE, 6th Framework Programme (Contract no. FOOD-CT-2006-036224). Part of this work was presented during the 2009 ISEE conference, Dublin, Ireland and published in the conference book of proceedings (Vardavas et al. 2009).

Declaration of interest

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.