© INTER-CITY COMPARISON OF METALS IN SCALP HAIR COLLECTED AFTER THE GULF-WAR 1991 SADIQ, M; MIAN, AA; ALTHAGAFI, KM MARCEL DEKKER INC, JOURNAL OF ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE AND HEALTH PART A-ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING TOXIC AND HAZARDOUS SUBSTANCE CONTROL; pp: ; Vol: ## King Fahd University of Petroleum & Minerals Summary A total of 110 hair samples were collected in March, 1991, from barber shops in Al Hassa, Dhahran, Hafr Al Batin, Jeddah and Riyadh cities. Information on the nationality and age of each donor was collected. AU the collected hair samples were thoroughly washed, acid digested and metal concentrations were determined using an inductively coupled argon plasma analyzer. Mercury was determined by the cold vapor technique using a double-beam mercury analyzer. It was found that the mean concentration of aluminum, barium, cadmium, cobalt, chromium, copper, nickel, lead, vanadium, titanium, copper and molybdenum were higher in the hair samples from Dhahran than any other city that were investigated in this study. The hair samples from Jeddah were found to contain the lowest mean concentration of the above metals. Exceptionally high concentrations of sodium was found in the hair samples from Jeddah. The correlation analysis of all data (combined) revealed three groups of metals. The first group consisted of cadmium, cobalt, chromium, lead, nickel, vanadium, molybdenum, titanium, aluminum and barium. These metals were strongly inter-correlated (P <0.01) suggesting a probable common source or coexisting sources of supply for these metals. Strontium, calcium, magnesium and zinc formulated the second group and were correlated (P <0.05) to each other. The remaining metals (copper, iron, potassium, and sodium) were occasionally correlated. Considering Copyright: King Fahd University of Petroleum & Minerals;

© correlation coefficinet values as basis, the strongest and the weakest inter-elemental associations for the first group of metals were observed in hairs form Dhahran and Jeddah, respectively. This suggest that influence of the pollution source for these metals was the maximum at Dhahran and the minimum at Jeddah. Age and nationality of the donors have no significant (P <0.05) effect on metal concentrations in the scalp hair. References: 1978, IAEARL50 COORD RES P ASSARIAN GS, 1977, CLIN CHEM WINSTON SA, V23, P1771 DOI R, 1988, SCI TOTAL ENVIRON, V77, P153 FLYNN A, 1977, J APPL NUTR, V29, P51 HAMMER DI, 1971, AM J EPIDEMIOL, V93, P84 LIMIC N, 1986, B ENVIRON CONTAM TOX, V37, P925 MATSUBARA J, 1985, ENVIRON RES, V38, P225 NORD PJ, 1973, ARCH ENVIRON HEALTH, V27, P40 RAGHUPATHY L, 1988, SCI TOTAL ENVIRON, V77, P141 SADIQ M, 1991, B ENVIRON CONTAM TOX, V47, P335 SADIQ M, 1992, IN PRESS B ENV CONTA SALMELA S, 1981, ANAL CHIM ACTA, V125, P131 SCARLETT JM, 1988, J TOXICOL ENV HLTH, V25, P373 TAKAGI Y, 1986, B ENVIRON CONTAM TOX, V36, P793 For pre-prints please write to: Copyright: King Fahd University of Petroleum & Minerals;