Saliva Lead Levels in Blue Collar Workers

from Different Industrial Areas in Palestine

Presented by:
Omar Naseef 11243711
Kamil Muwafi 11210418
Abdullah Matar 11243935

Supervised by
Dr. Ramzi Shawahna
Dr. Ahed Zyoud
 Introduction
 Lead is one of the most toxic heavy metals known
around the world.
 Lead can be found in many sources that we are daily
exposed to, such as drinking water, tobacco and even
soil.

 Chemicals like paintings, hennas, pottery, bullets are

other sources.
 Our Study

 Our study aims to assess the levels of lead in

saliva samples from blue collar workers in
different industrial areas in Palestine, and to
investigate which sociodemographic and
occupational characteristics were associated
with lead levels.
  Target Population

 Blue collar workers in mines, metal and chemical

factories, mobiles and car repair workshops, paintings
and gasoline exposure occupations.
 Methods
 Study participants were 97 blue collar workers from
different industrial zones in Palestine (Nablus, Jenin,
Tulkarm and Qalqilyah), who were visited in their
workplaces in the time between October 2017 and
February 2018.
 For each worker, 5 ml saliva was collected using
polyethylene tubes, along with a questionnaire for
some related factors, and a consent form.
Questionnaire
 Ethical Approval
 All aspects of the study
protocol were authorized
by the Institutional
Review Boards (IRBs) of
An-Najah National
University before the
beginning of data
collection.
 Analytical procedure

inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS)

 The median saliva lead level in this study was 1.84
µg/L with an IQR of 5.04 µg/L

 World Health Organization’s accepted limits of lead in

breast milk ranges from 2.0 to 5.0 μg/L, and the blood
level is 5.0 μg/L for an occupationally unexposed
population.

 No level of lead is safe in human body.

Table 1: Sociodemographic and occupational variables of the study
participants (n = 97) with their saliva lead levels
Table 2: Sociodemographic and occupational factors associated with saliva
lead levels in the study participants
Table 3: Multiple linear regression analysis of association between
sociodemographic and occupational variables with saliva lead levels in the
study participants
In Our Study
  Our findings suggest that blue collar workers in
industrial zones could be occupationally exposed to
lead, especially those with significant smoking history,
longer years of occupational exposure, and
particularly in car mechanics.
 Recommendations

 Further studies are still needed to investigate and

correlate lead levels in blue collar workers and other
populations.

 Health regulatory agencies should take measures to

reduce such exposures and improve health outcomes
in those at risk.
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 To the Faculty of Medicine in An-Najah National
University.

 To Dr. Ramzi Shawahna and Dr. Ahed Zyoud.

 To the Department of Water and Environmental

Studies Institutes (WESI).

 To our families and the kind audience .

 And a shout out to every worker agreed to

participate in the study.