Background: Exposure to toxic metals remains a public health problem with lifelong impacts on childhood growth and development. We aimed to investigate metals effects on preschool children’s anthropometric variables. Methods: The study was conducted in Tehran, Iran, from Jul 2013 to Mar 2016. We measured scalp hair metal concentrations (lead, cadmium, arsenic, zinc, manganese, and cobalt), using inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry, in 207 preschool children’s (36 to 72 months old). Results: A significant negative correlation between children’s hair lead levels and children’s weight was found (r= −0.178, P<0.05). Linear regression analysis confirmed the relationship when adjusted for the confounders, including children’s age, sex, height, family income, and maternal education (β= −0.191; t= −3.426, P< 0.01). The ANOVA analysis showed a significant (P<0.01) difference between hair lead level and children’s weight-for-age percentiles. Totally and separately, in almost all weight percentiles, hair lead levels were higher in girls than boys. Conclusion: The present study on Iranian children showed the current levels of lead exposure might negatively influence on children growth, with higher risk for girls than boys.

中文翻译：

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头发金属水平和儿童体重增加

背景：接触有毒金属仍然是一个公共卫生问题，会对儿童的成长和发育产生终生影响。我们旨在调查金属对学龄前儿童人体测量变量的影响。方法：该研究于 2013 年 7 月至 2016 年 3 月在伊朗德黑兰进行。我们使用电感耦合等离子体质谱法测量了 207 名学龄前儿童的头皮头发金属浓度（铅、镉、砷、锌、锰和钴）。 （36 至 72 个月大）。结果：儿童头发铅含量与儿童体重呈显着负相关（r=-0.178，P<0.05）。线性回归分析证实了调整混杂因素后的关系，包括儿童的年龄、性别、身高、家庭收入和母亲教育（β= -0.191；t= -3.426，P<0.01）。ANOVA 分析显示，头发铅水平与儿童年龄别体重百分位数之间存在显着差异（P<0.01）。总体而言，在几乎所有的体重百分比中，女孩的头发铅水平都高于男孩。结论：目前对伊朗儿童的研究表明，目前的铅暴露水平可能对儿童的生长产生负面影响，女孩的风险高于男孩。