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High umbilical cord blood lead levels and “calabar chalk” consumption amongst pregnant women in two hospitals in Cameroon

INTRODUCTION: “Calabar chalk” is a lead-laden pica mostly consumed by pregnant women worldwide as a remedy for morning sickness. This clay material has been shown to have lead levels of up to 40mg per kilogram. Meanwhile blood lead levels, even at doses less than 10μg/dl will be toxic to humans and...

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Autores principales: Vofo, Brice Nguedia, Vofo, Gaelle Vanelssa Fotsing Ngankam, Fonge, Beatrice Ambo, Nsagha, Dickson Shey, Egbe, Thomas Obinchemti, Assob, Jules Clement Nguedia
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: The African Field Epidemiology Network 2019
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6711677/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/31489087
http://dx.doi.org/10.11604/pamj.2019.33.109.13999
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author Vofo, Brice Nguedia
Vofo, Gaelle Vanelssa Fotsing Ngankam
Fonge, Beatrice Ambo
Nsagha, Dickson Shey
Egbe, Thomas Obinchemti
Assob, Jules Clement Nguedia
author_facet Vofo, Brice Nguedia
Vofo, Gaelle Vanelssa Fotsing Ngankam
Fonge, Beatrice Ambo
Nsagha, Dickson Shey
Egbe, Thomas Obinchemti
Assob, Jules Clement Nguedia
author_sort Vofo, Brice Nguedia
collection PubMed
description INTRODUCTION: “Calabar chalk” is a lead-laden pica mostly consumed by pregnant women worldwide as a remedy for morning sickness. This clay material has been shown to have lead levels of up to 40mg per kilogram. Meanwhile blood lead levels, even at doses less than 10μg/dl will be toxic to humans and even worse-off to the fetus as it crosses the placenta. We, therefore, sort to determine the prevalence of “Calabar chalk” consumption amongst pregnant women and if it translates to higher umbilical cord blood lead levels. METHODS: We carried out a cross-sectional study by prospectively and consecutively enrolling 300 pregnant women from December 2014 through February 2015. A questionnaire was administered to ascertain “Calabar chalk” consumption. The levels of lead in the umbilical cord blood of 51 participants of each group of those who consumed and didn't consume “Calabar chalk” were measured by spectrometry and compared using the T-test (p<0.05). RESULTS: The prevalence of “Calabar chalk” consumption was 43.33%. This was mostly consumed during pregnancy only (46.34%), with higher rates observed amongst primigravidas. The mean umbilical blood lead levels amongst those who consumed and those who did not consume “Calabar chalk” was 39.19μg/dl and 25.33μg/dl respectively (P=0.111). CONCLUSION: The prevalence of “Calabar chalk” consumption was high in the pregnant women population. The overall umbilical cord blood lead levels were extremely high in both consumers and non-consumers. We recommend health education and chelation therapy to be considered.
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spelling pubmed-67116772019-09-05 High umbilical cord blood lead levels and “calabar chalk” consumption amongst pregnant women in two hospitals in Cameroon Vofo, Brice Nguedia Vofo, Gaelle Vanelssa Fotsing Ngankam Fonge, Beatrice Ambo Nsagha, Dickson Shey Egbe, Thomas Obinchemti Assob, Jules Clement Nguedia Pan Afr Med J Research INTRODUCTION: “Calabar chalk” is a lead-laden pica mostly consumed by pregnant women worldwide as a remedy for morning sickness. This clay material has been shown to have lead levels of up to 40mg per kilogram. Meanwhile blood lead levels, even at doses less than 10μg/dl will be toxic to humans and even worse-off to the fetus as it crosses the placenta. We, therefore, sort to determine the prevalence of “Calabar chalk” consumption amongst pregnant women and if it translates to higher umbilical cord blood lead levels. METHODS: We carried out a cross-sectional study by prospectively and consecutively enrolling 300 pregnant women from December 2014 through February 2015. A questionnaire was administered to ascertain “Calabar chalk” consumption. The levels of lead in the umbilical cord blood of 51 participants of each group of those who consumed and didn't consume “Calabar chalk” were measured by spectrometry and compared using the T-test (p<0.05). RESULTS: The prevalence of “Calabar chalk” consumption was 43.33%. This was mostly consumed during pregnancy only (46.34%), with higher rates observed amongst primigravidas. The mean umbilical blood lead levels amongst those who consumed and those who did not consume “Calabar chalk” was 39.19μg/dl and 25.33μg/dl respectively (P=0.111). CONCLUSION: The prevalence of “Calabar chalk” consumption was high in the pregnant women population. The overall umbilical cord blood lead levels were extremely high in both consumers and non-consumers. We recommend health education and chelation therapy to be considered. The African Field Epidemiology Network 2019-06-13 /pmc/articles/PMC6711677/ /pubmed/31489087 http://dx.doi.org/10.11604/pamj.2019.33.109.13999 Text en © Brice Nguedia Vofo et al. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/ The Pan African Medical Journal - ISSN 1937-8688. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
spellingShingle Research
Vofo, Brice Nguedia
Vofo, Gaelle Vanelssa Fotsing Ngankam
Fonge, Beatrice Ambo
Nsagha, Dickson Shey
Egbe, Thomas Obinchemti
Assob, Jules Clement Nguedia
High umbilical cord blood lead levels and “calabar chalk” consumption amongst pregnant women in two hospitals in Cameroon
title High umbilical cord blood lead levels and “calabar chalk” consumption amongst pregnant women in two hospitals in Cameroon
title_full High umbilical cord blood lead levels and “calabar chalk” consumption amongst pregnant women in two hospitals in Cameroon
title_fullStr High umbilical cord blood lead levels and “calabar chalk” consumption amongst pregnant women in two hospitals in Cameroon
title_full_unstemmed High umbilical cord blood lead levels and “calabar chalk” consumption amongst pregnant women in two hospitals in Cameroon
title_short High umbilical cord blood lead levels and “calabar chalk” consumption amongst pregnant women in two hospitals in Cameroon
title_sort high umbilical cord blood lead levels and “calabar chalk” consumption amongst pregnant women in two hospitals in cameroon
topic Research
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6711677/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/31489087
http://dx.doi.org/10.11604/pamj.2019.33.109.13999
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