Table 6.
Essential Minerals and non-essential minerals measured in whole blood, RBC, serum, and urine
| Essential Minerals + other minerals | Units | Autism Group | Neuro-typical Group | % Difference | p-value | Neurotypical Reference Range (10th and 90th percentiles) | Autism Group % below RR | Autism Group % above RR | Tietz Ref. Range [39] | NHANES1999-2002 Reference Range (6-11 yr and 12-19 yr) [38] | Sonora Quest Ref. Range |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Calcium-WB | mg/dl | 5.9 +/- 0.4 |
5.8 +/- 0.3 |
n.s. | 5.45-6.20 | 11% | 11% | ||||
| Calcium-RBC | μg/g |
19.3 +/-7 |
22.4 +/- 6 |
-14% | 0.02 | 12.5-29.5 | 31% | 7% | |||
| Calcium-Serum (total) | mg/dl | 9.6 +/- 0.5 |
9.6 +/- 0.2 |
n.s. | 9.25-9.9 | 13% | 9% | 8.8-10.8 (2-12 yr) |
8.8-10.8 (2-12 yr) |
||
| Chromium-RBC | ng/g | 0.91 +/-0.5 |
0.80 +/- 0.4 |
n.s. | 0.3-14 | 9% | 16% | ||||
| Copper-WB | μg/dL |
95 +/-11 |
89 +/- 14 |
+7% | 0.02 | 70-108.5 | 0% | 11% | |||
| Copper-RBC | μg/g |
0.76 +/-0.08 |
0.72 +/- 0.09 |
+5% | 0.03 | 0.61-0.86 | 2% | 13% | |||
| Iodine-Urine | μg/mg-creatinine | 0.24 +/- 0.2 |
0.26 +/- 0.3 |
n.s. | 0.097-0.57 | 25% | 4% | 0.116-0.699 0.067-0.364 |
|||
| Iron-RBC | μg/g |
891 +/-94 |
833 +/- 64 |
+7% | 0.0005 * | 764-922 | 2% | 42% | |||
| Iron-Serum | μg/dl | 83 +/- 34 |
87 +/- 35 |
n.s. | 42-130 | 7% | 7% | 50-120 (child) |
39-126 45-141 |
28-136 (6-14 yr) |
|
| Serum Ferritin | μg/l | 39.1 +/- 22 |
36.9 +/- 17 |
n.s. | 17-63 | 9% | 16% | 7-140 (1 - 15 yr) |
11-74 8.0-115 |
||
| Lithium-WB | μg/L |
1.7 +/-0.8 |
3.6 +/- 6 |
-52% | 0.006 W | 1-5.0 | 11% | 0% | |||
| Lithium-WB (without 3 highest neurotypical outliers #) | μg/L |
2.2 +/- 1.1 |
-23% | 0.006 W | 3.25-3.90 | 13% | 7% | ||||
| Magnesium-WB | mg/dl |
3.53 +/-0.31 |
3.64 +/- 0.26 |
-3% | 0.02 W | 42-54.5 | 18% | 22% | |||
| Magnesium-RBC | μg/g | 48.9 +/-6 |
47.5 +/- 5 |
n.s. | 1.8-2.2 | 4% | 2% | 40-64 (adult) |
|||
| Magnesium-Serum | mg/dl |
1.95 +/- 0.14 |
2.03 +/- 0.15 |
-4% | 0.02 W | 8-16 | 13% | 15% | 1.7-2.1 (6-12 yr) |
1.7-2.4 (adult) |
|
| Manganese-WB | μg/L | 12.1 +/4 |
11.6 +/- 3 |
n.s. | 0.012-0.025 | 11% | 20% | 7.7-12.1 (adult) |
|||
| Manganese-RBC | μg/g | 0.021 +/-0.007 |
0.018 +/- 0.005 |
+12% | 0.07 W | 1-1.8 | 6% | 7% | |||
| Molybdenum-WB | μg/L | 1.4 +/-0.4 |
1.4 +/- 0.3 |
n.s. | 0.15-0.30 | 7% | 13% | 0.8-3.3 (adult) |
|||
| Molybdenum-RBC | ng/g | 0.93 +/- 0.3 |
0.98 +/- 0.2 |
n.s. | 520-629 | 7% | 33% | ||||
| Phosphorus-RBC | μg/g |
597 +/-59 |
567 +/- 43 |
+5% | 0.004 | 3.85-5.35 | 6% | 6% | |||
| Phosphorus-Serum | mg/dL | 4.6 +/- 0.5 |
4.6 +/- 0.5 |
n.s. | 73-83.5 | 9% | 20% | 4.5-5.5 (2-12 yr) |
3.1-5.9 (4-12 yr) |
||
| Potassium -RBC | mEq/L |
79 +/- 5.3 |
76.9 +/- 4.1 |
+3% | 0.007 W | 3.8-4.6 | 15% | 9% | |||
| Potassium-Serum | mEq/L | 4.1 +/- 0.3 |
4.2 +/- 0.3 |
n.s. | 186-236 | 19% | 9% | 3.4-4.7 (child) |
2.8-6.0 (child) |
||
| Selenium-WB | μg/L | 207 +/-28 |
210 +/- 20 |
n.s. | 0.20-0.27 | 9% | 18% | 58-234 (adult) |
|||
| Selenium-RBC | μg/g | 0.24 +/- 0.04 |
0.23 +/- 0.03 |
n.s. | 136-139 | 9% | 17% | 0.07-0.24 (adult) |
|||
| Sodium-Serum | mEq/l | 138 +/- 2 |
137 +/- 1 |
n.s. | 0.15-0.30 | 11% | 2% | 138-145 (child) |
135-145 (adult) |
||
| Vanadium-RBC | ng/g | 0.21 +/- 0.07 |
0.22 +/- 0.07 | n.s. | 465-657 | 7% | 7% | ||||
| Zinc-WB | μg/dL | 551 +/-68 |
555 +/- 74 |
n.s. | 6.8-10.8 | 2% | 15% | ||||
| Zinc-RBC | μg/g | 9.2 +/-1.4 |
8.9 +/- 1.4 |
n.s. | |||||||
| Non-essential minerals | |||||||||||
| Boron-RBC | μg/g |
0.029 +/-0.014 |
0.025 +/- 0.007 |
+16% | 0.04 | 0.014-0.032 | 13% | 36% | |||
| Strontium-WB | μg/L | 25 +/-8 |
24 +/- 6 |
n.s | 17-34 | 7% | 6% | ||||
The average levels of minerals measured in the Autism and Neurotypical groups are reported below, along with their standard deviations. The p-value for a t-test comparison of the two groups is also reported. If the p-value is below 0.05, then the % difference between the groups is reported. For several tests the data was not normally distributed, and in those cases a non-parametric Wilcoxon test (also known as the Mann-Whitney test) was used instead of a t-test - those p-values are marked with a W.
The table also lists the reference range of the neurotypical group (10th and 90th percentiles), and the % of the Autism group who are above or below the reference ranges. Note that if the groups were identical, 10% would be above and 10% would be below. Percentages above 25% are highlighted. Reference Ranges from Tietz Textbook of Clinical Chemistry (Burtis and Ashwood 1999), the NHANES National Report, and Sonora Quest are given where available.
# Note that the lithium level for the neurotypical group is greatly increased by three siblings with very high lithium levels of 16, 16, and 35 mcg/L. A second value for lithium is given for the neurotypical group without those 3 siblings; the difference between the autism group and this revised neurotypical group is smaller but slightly more significant.
* Statistically significant difference between the two groups with 95% confidence per Bonferroni analysis.