ArticleJournal of clinical laboratory analysis2025
Reference Intervals for Lead, Arsenic, Mercury, and Cadmium in the Population of Southwest China: A Comparative Study of Direct and Indirect Sampling Techniques.
Article in Journal of clinical laboratory analysis, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. An erratum has been issued. Not yet cited in PubMed.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
0 citing papers in PubMed.
No citing paper in PubMed yet.
Corrections and comments
- Erratum issued
Authors and funding
10 authors.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundEnvironmental metal pollution poses a potential threat to public health, and reference intervals (RIs) are crucial tools for assessing exposure levels.
aimsOur study was the first to systematically establish RIs for lead, arsenic, mercury, and cadmium in a population in southwest China, examining differences across genders and ages. The study also compared the differences between RIs obtained by two sampling techniques, including direct and indirect sampling, to assess the substitutability and limitations between the two techniques. MATERIALS AND
methodsDirect sampling employed atomic absorption spectrometry (AAS) and inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) on human biomonitoring (HBM) data, while indirect sampling utilized a Gaussian Mixture Model (GMM) applied to a local Laboratory Information System (LIS) database. RIs were determined using the nonparametric method for both approaches.
resultsRIs were established for each metal, with variations observed across age groups for cadmium and lead, and across genders for lead in certain age groups. Most of the RIs established by the direct sampling technique had a narrower range compared to that established by GMM, and the RIs established by the two techniques were partially biased. DISCUSSION AND
conclusionThese RIs offer a vital baseline for assessing environmental metal exposure and identifying metal poisoning in Southwest China. Additionally, this study highlights the potential of the GMM-based indirect sampling technique as a viable alternative to the traditional direct sampling technique, with the dual-technique comparison enhancing our understanding of their substitutability and limitations, thus opening new avenues for environmental health research.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.