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The influence of smoking habits on cadmium and lead blood levels in the Serbian adult people

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Abstract

According to the World Health Organization, in 2015, the Serbian population ranked among the highest ones in Europe in terms of smoking habit: 44.3% males and 36.2% females aged 18–64 smoked tobacco. In the last 7 years, 25% of total mortality in men and 9% in women from Serbia were associated with smoking. Tobacco smoking is one of the most important sources of exposure to many toxic substances in general population. Our study confirmed higher blood levels of two toxic metals, cadmium and lead, in the blood of smokers (3.5 and 1.5 times higher than in non-smokers, respectively). Furthermore, smoking habits, such as number of smoked cigarettes per day, smoking period and cigarette type, along with age, were shown to influence these metals’ blood concentration. Higher blood levels of Cd and Pb were found in smokers consuming more than 10 cigarettes per day for more than 10 years. The present study also highlighted the importance of the controlled tobacco production, since it was shown that consumption of illicit tobacco could manifold the exposure to toxic metals that can subsequently increase the frequency of related diseases as well.

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Acknowledgments

The research presented in this paper was done as part of the III 46009 and OI 175036 projects, funded by the Ministry of Education, Science and Technological Development of the Republic of Serbia. Great gratitude owes to the smokers who participated in the study.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Toxicology “Akademik Danilo Soldatović”, Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Belgrade, Vojvode Stepe 450, Belgrade, 11000, Serbia

    Aleksandra Repić, Biljana Antonijević, Aleksandra Buha & Zorica Bulat

  2. Serbian Institute of Occupational Health “Dr Dragomir Karajović”, Belgrade, Serbia

    Aleksandra Repić & Petar Bulat

  3. Faculty of Medicine, University of Belgrade, Belgrade, Serbia

    Petar Bulat

  4. National Poison Control Center, Military Medical Academy, Belgrade, Serbia

    Marko Antunović & Jelena Džudović

  5. Faculty of Medicine of the Military Medical Academy, University of Defence, Belgrade, Serbia

    Marko Antunović

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  1. Aleksandra Repić
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Correspondence to Aleksandra Buha.

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Repić, A., Bulat, P., Antonijević, B. et al. The influence of smoking habits on cadmium and lead blood levels in the Serbian adult people. Environ Sci Pollut Res 27, 751–760 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-019-06840-1

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