Distribution and Predictors of Toxic and Essential Metals in the Cord Blood of Chinese Newborns

Introduction: Prenatal and childhood heavy metal exposures are associated with developmental effects in childhood. In contrast, trace metals are essential for proper growth and development and deficiencies or excesses of these metals can similarly have negative health effects. Here we determined the concentrations of 20 heavy metals and trace elements in umbilical cord blood and identified demographic predictors of exposure. Methods: 20 metals...