Abstract
Purpose: To determine some toxic elements in the blood of cigarette and tobacco pipe smokers in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.Methods: The study setting was Riyadh, the capital city of Saudi Arabia, Riyadh City. Male volunteers, aged 20 - 58 year, whose blood samples were collected, were classified into three groups of cigarette smokers (N = 30), tobacco pipe smokers (N = 30) and non-smokers (24). Inductive coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) measurement was conducted to determine the concentration of toxic metals in the blood samples after microwave acid digestion.Results: The mean concentrations of cadmium (Cd), lead (Pb), arsenic (As), mercury (Hg) and nickel (Ni) were 0.23 ± 0.30, 26.42 ± 20.08, 19.43 ± 10.00, 8.77 ± 6.98 and 79.57 ± 70.51), respectively, for cigarette smokers; (0.31 ± 0.19, 8.11 ± 8.60, 4.80 ± 3.01, 13.05 ± 3.01 and 9.96 ± 5.00), respectively, for tobacco pipe smokers; and 0.07 ± 0.20, 3.89 ± 5.82, 10.09 ± 2.75, 10.44 ± 5.37 and 1.60 ± 2.77), respectively, non-smokers.Conclusion: The results showed that the blood concentrations of heavy metals in smokers were higher than those in non-smokers.Keywords: Blood, Heavy metals, Smokers, Tobacco pipe smokers, Inductive coupled plasma mass spectrometry