Contents and relationship of elements in human hair for a non-industrialised population in Poland

The concentrations of 11 elements: Pb, Mn, Fe, Cd, Cu, Ni, Cr, Zn, Na, K and Ca in hair were determined by AAS. Hair samples (n = 266) were collected between 1990 and 1994 from inhabitants of the Silesian Beskid in the south of Poland (non-industrialised region). The effects of age (1-30 years old, 31-80 years old), sex (male, female) and colour of hair on the heavy metal levels were determined. Using statistical methods of cluster analysis, multiple regression analysis and factor analysis we obtained information concerning relations among metals in the hair. The strongest relations between metals in the hair are as follows: Fe-Mn, Cr-K and Cd-Pb in the first cluster and Zn-Ni in the second cluster. For our population (n = 266, non-industrialised region in Poland) we obtained a factor loading > 0.7. Factor 1 was contributed by Na and K; Factor 2 by Pb, Cd, Mn and Fe; Factor 3 by Ca (a negative correlation); Factor 4 by Ni; Factor 5 by Cu; Factor 6 by Co, Cd and K; and Factor 7 by Cr, Pb, Mn, Fe and K. These seven factors explain 77.7% variance. We obtained essential linear multiple dependence (P < 0.05) as follows: Mn = f (Cd, Fe, Ca); Na = f (Zn, K, - Ca); K = f (-Zn, Cr, Na); Pb = f (Cd, Zn, Cr, Fe); Zn = f (Ni, Na, -Cr, -K); Fe = f (Pb, Mn); Cr = f (Pb, K, -Zn); Co = f (Cd, Cr); and Ca = f (Mn, -Zn, -Na). These relations can be useful to explain relationships among the metals in man. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science B.V.