Residents of homes beside chromate production waste sites in Jersey City gave spot urine samples while household dust was sampled. Urinary chromium was significantly related to chromium concentration in dust, but not to dust loading, and the relationship held in the final models for the whole population and for children under 10 but not for older residents.
Key numbers
- Household dust chromium concentration, all ages (n = 329): median 119.0, mean 207.9, 90th percentile 503.7 µg/g dust; under 10 years: median 146.5, mean 252.8 µg/g (Table 2, p. 834).
- Dust loading, all ages: median 12.1, mean 30.7 ng/cm2 (Table 2, p. 834).
- Urinary chromium, unadjusted, all ages: median 0.27, mean 0.60 µg/L; under 10 years: median 0.31, mean 0.46 µg/L; limit of quantitation 0.2 µg/L (Table 3, p. 835; Methods, p. 834). The scanned text renders the micro sign poorly; units follow the methods text (micrograms per liter).
- Dust detection limits 10 ng/g (ICP-AES) and 1.5 ng/g (ICP-MS) (Methods, p. 834).
Methods (brief)
Spot urine by atomic absorption spectrometry with standard additions; household dust wiped from elevated indoor surfaces and analyzed by ICP-AES or ICP-MS; multiple regression of log urine chromium on dust chromium with potential confounders.
Evidence fitness
Supports household dust as an internal-exposure pathway for chromium near chromate waste, especially for young children. It does not separate hexavalent from trivalent chromium.
Limitations
Total chromium only, though hexavalent chromium was present at the waste sites; spot urine; cross-sectional design.
Related evidence
Update history
No substantive edit history is available in this build. The full commit record is available in git.