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. 2022 Mar 18;19(6):3643. doi: 10.3390/ijerph19063643

Table 2.

Limits of detection and whole blood concentration (µg/L) of essential and toxic elements in Argentinian postpartum women living in Ushuaia and Salta (n = 696).

Elements Ushuaia (n = 198) Salta (n = 498) p Value *
% > LOD GM (95% CI) Min–Max Selected Percentiles % > LOD GM (95% CI) Min–Max Selected Percentiles
25th 50th 75th 25th 50th 75th
Cu 100 1688 (1646–1730) 961–2539 1515 1718 1885 100 1782 (1759–1804) 1057–3559 1616 1766 1959 0.001
Mn 100 17.83 (16.97–18.73) 4.75–39.53 13.74 18.11 23.06 100 22.98 (22.44–23.54) 8.65–52.96 19.28 22.60 27.61 <0.001
Se 100 80.06 (78.26–81.91) 51.28–125.06 71.19 80.56 89.00 100 129.25 (127.23–131.30) 75.36–240.57 114.27 128.83 145.35 <0.001
Zn 100 7633 (7468–7801) 4973–10,199 6767 7815 8665 100 6682 (6597–6768) 4171–9549 6049 6720 7343 <0.001
As 100 0.63 (0.59–0.67) 0.22–3.78 0.47 0.58 0.83 100 0.55 (0.53–0.57) 0.28–3.78 0.44 0.53 0.64 <0.001
Cd (Smoker) 98 0.22 (0.19–0.26) a 0.04–0.90 0.17 0.20 0.33 99 0.21 (0.19–0.23) b 0.04–1.05 0.15 0.21 0.28 0.501
Cd (Non-smoker) 95 0.17 (0.15–0.19) c 0.04–0.51 0.12 0.18 0.26 99 0.18 (0.17–0.19) d 0.04–0.76 0.13 0.18 0.25 0.394
Hg 75 0.35 (0.32–0.38) 0.1–2.7 0.1 0.3 0.6 97 0.62 (0.58–0.65) 0.1–19.6 0.4 0.6 0.9 <0.001
Pb 100 10.1 (9.5–10.7) 2.9–39.1 7.6 9.8 13.0 100 15.8 (15.2 −16.5) 3.9–152.3 11.8 15.0 20.9 <0.001

* Mann–Whitney U test. a,b,c,d The number of participants in each group is 57, 127, 141, and 371, respectively. Abbreviations: As, arsenic; Cd, cadmium; CI, confidence interval; Cu, copper; GM, geometric mean; Hg, mercury; LOD, limit of detection; Mn, manganese; Pb, lead; Se, selenium; and Zn, zinc.