Blood Lead Levels among Blood Donors and High-Risk Occupational Groups in a Mining Area in Ghana: Implications for Blood Transfusion among Vulnerable Populations
Lead poisoning has been a major global health problem for decades, and blood transfusion has been suspected as a neglected potential source of lead exposure. Children and pregnant women are most vulnerable to the toxic effects of lead and over 40 percent of blood transfused in Ghana is given to chil...
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ftdoajarticles:oai:doaj.org/article:5732e8bd26914f408cdea9974336eae5 2024-09-09T19:28:23+00:00 Blood Lead Levels among Blood Donors and High-Risk Occupational Groups in a Mining Area in Ghana: Implications for Blood Transfusion among Vulnerable Populations Veronica Agyemang Joseph K. Acquaye Samuel B. E. Harrison Felix B. Oppong Stephany Gyaase Kwaku P. Asante Edeghonghon Olayemi 2020-01-01T00:00:00Z https://doi.org/10.1155/2020/6718985 https://doaj.org/article/5732e8bd26914f408cdea9974336eae5 EN eng Wiley http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2020/6718985 https://doaj.org/toc/1687-9686 https://doaj.org/toc/1687-9694 1687-9686 1687-9694 doi:10.1155/2020/6718985 https://doaj.org/article/5732e8bd26914f408cdea9974336eae5 Journal of Tropical Medicine, Vol 2020 (2020) Arctic medicine. Tropical medicine RC955-962 article 2020 ftdoajarticles https://doi.org/10.1155/2020/6718985 2024-08-05T17:48:47Z Lead poisoning has been a major global health problem for decades, and blood transfusion has been suspected as a neglected potential source of lead exposure. Children and pregnant women are most vulnerable to the toxic effects of lead and over 40 percent of blood transfused in Ghana is given to children under 5 years. However, there is little data on the levels of lead in donor blood and the main sources of lead exposure in the Ghanaian population. This study compared blood lead levels (BLL) among selected occupations at risk of lead exposure with healthy blood donors in nonexposed occupations in a Ghanaian mining area. We enrolled 40 participants each from the following high-risk occupational groups: small scale miners, painters/sprayers, drivers/fuel station attendants, and auto-mechanics as well as 40 healthy blood donors (made up of teachers, traders, and office workers). One millilitre of blood was collected from each participant for determination of their BLL, haemoglobin concentration, and blood film morphology. A total of 200 participants made up of 186 (93%) males and 14 (7%) females were enrolled. The mean age of participants was 28.6 ± 8.2 years and their geometric mean (GM) BLL was 6.3 GSD 1.4 µg/dL [95% CI: 6.0 – 6.6]. Participants in high risk occupations had significantly higher GM BLL of 6.7 µg/dL [95% CI :6.4−7.0] compared to 5.0 µg/dL [95% CI: 4.4−5.7] for healthy blood donors [p < 0.001]. The prevalence of elevated BLL (≥5 µg/dL) among the entire study participants, high risk occupations and blood donors was 84.5%, 89.4% and 65% respectively. There was significant association between elevated BLLs and working in an at-risk occupational group [aOR = 3.58, p = 0.014]. Haemoglobin concentration was not significantly associated with elevated BLLs. Basophilic stippling was not observed in any of the blood smears. Blood lead levels were high in blood donors and at-risk occupations in the study area and occupation was associated with elevated BLLs. It is important that measures to safeguard the ... Article in Journal/Newspaper Arctic Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles Arctic Journal of Tropical Medicine 2020 1 8 |
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English |
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Arctic medicine. Tropical medicine RC955-962 |
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Arctic medicine. Tropical medicine RC955-962 Veronica Agyemang Joseph K. Acquaye Samuel B. E. Harrison Felix B. Oppong Stephany Gyaase Kwaku P. Asante Edeghonghon Olayemi Blood Lead Levels among Blood Donors and High-Risk Occupational Groups in a Mining Area in Ghana: Implications for Blood Transfusion among Vulnerable Populations |
topic_facet |
Arctic medicine. Tropical medicine RC955-962 |
description |
Lead poisoning has been a major global health problem for decades, and blood transfusion has been suspected as a neglected potential source of lead exposure. Children and pregnant women are most vulnerable to the toxic effects of lead and over 40 percent of blood transfused in Ghana is given to children under 5 years. However, there is little data on the levels of lead in donor blood and the main sources of lead exposure in the Ghanaian population. This study compared blood lead levels (BLL) among selected occupations at risk of lead exposure with healthy blood donors in nonexposed occupations in a Ghanaian mining area. We enrolled 40 participants each from the following high-risk occupational groups: small scale miners, painters/sprayers, drivers/fuel station attendants, and auto-mechanics as well as 40 healthy blood donors (made up of teachers, traders, and office workers). One millilitre of blood was collected from each participant for determination of their BLL, haemoglobin concentration, and blood film morphology. A total of 200 participants made up of 186 (93%) males and 14 (7%) females were enrolled. The mean age of participants was 28.6 ± 8.2 years and their geometric mean (GM) BLL was 6.3 GSD 1.4 µg/dL [95% CI: 6.0 – 6.6]. Participants in high risk occupations had significantly higher GM BLL of 6.7 µg/dL [95% CI :6.4−7.0] compared to 5.0 µg/dL [95% CI: 4.4−5.7] for healthy blood donors [p < 0.001]. The prevalence of elevated BLL (≥5 µg/dL) among the entire study participants, high risk occupations and blood donors was 84.5%, 89.4% and 65% respectively. There was significant association between elevated BLLs and working in an at-risk occupational group [aOR = 3.58, p = 0.014]. Haemoglobin concentration was not significantly associated with elevated BLLs. Basophilic stippling was not observed in any of the blood smears. Blood lead levels were high in blood donors and at-risk occupations in the study area and occupation was associated with elevated BLLs. It is important that measures to safeguard the ... |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Veronica Agyemang Joseph K. Acquaye Samuel B. E. Harrison Felix B. Oppong Stephany Gyaase Kwaku P. Asante Edeghonghon Olayemi |
author_facet |
Veronica Agyemang Joseph K. Acquaye Samuel B. E. Harrison Felix B. Oppong Stephany Gyaase Kwaku P. Asante Edeghonghon Olayemi |
author_sort |
Veronica Agyemang |
title |
Blood Lead Levels among Blood Donors and High-Risk Occupational Groups in a Mining Area in Ghana: Implications for Blood Transfusion among Vulnerable Populations |
title_short |
Blood Lead Levels among Blood Donors and High-Risk Occupational Groups in a Mining Area in Ghana: Implications for Blood Transfusion among Vulnerable Populations |
title_full |
Blood Lead Levels among Blood Donors and High-Risk Occupational Groups in a Mining Area in Ghana: Implications for Blood Transfusion among Vulnerable Populations |
title_fullStr |
Blood Lead Levels among Blood Donors and High-Risk Occupational Groups in a Mining Area in Ghana: Implications for Blood Transfusion among Vulnerable Populations |
title_full_unstemmed |
Blood Lead Levels among Blood Donors and High-Risk Occupational Groups in a Mining Area in Ghana: Implications for Blood Transfusion among Vulnerable Populations |
title_sort |
blood lead levels among blood donors and high-risk occupational groups in a mining area in ghana: implications for blood transfusion among vulnerable populations |
publisher |
Wiley |
publishDate |
2020 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.1155/2020/6718985 https://doaj.org/article/5732e8bd26914f408cdea9974336eae5 |
geographic |
Arctic |
geographic_facet |
Arctic |
genre |
Arctic |
genre_facet |
Arctic |
op_source |
Journal of Tropical Medicine, Vol 2020 (2020) |
op_relation |
http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2020/6718985 https://doaj.org/toc/1687-9686 https://doaj.org/toc/1687-9694 1687-9686 1687-9694 doi:10.1155/2020/6718985 https://doaj.org/article/5732e8bd26914f408cdea9974336eae5 |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1155/2020/6718985 |
container_title |
Journal of Tropical Medicine |
container_volume |
2020 |
container_start_page |
1 |
op_container_end_page |
8 |
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1809897618558418944 |