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Background and purpose: In the past century, concerns about the harmful effects of lead, cadmium and other toxic agents has been increasing emitted from automobile exhaust on human health. The present study investigated the concentrations of lead-cadmium in blood of traffic officers and taxi drivers in Arak, Iran, in experimental group compared to a control group. Materials and methods: The subjects of this study included 49 traffic officers, 47 taxi drivers (case group) and 47 teachers who were studied as the control group. Blood samples were taken from subjects and atomic absorption was used to determine the concentration. Results: In the present study, the mean blood lead level of traffic officers, taxi drivers and control group were (22.855 ± 17.854 µg.dl), (21.783 ± 17.615 µg.dl), and (18.074 ± 19.688 µg.dl), respectively and also mean blood cadmium level in traffic officers, taxi drivers and control group were (0.161 ± 0.126 µg.dl), (0.168 ± 0.117 µg.dl) (0.161 ± 0.121 µg.dl), respectively. There was not any statistically significant difference between the groups who studied with blood lead and cadmium levels. In addition, no statistical significant association was found between work experience and smoking, and blood levels of lead and cadmium. Blood lead levels were lower than occupational exposure limit (OEL) and blood levels of cadmium were also below the OEL. Conclusion: Lead concentrations in the blood groups of Arak city, according to previous studies in this field have been increased which was probably due to an increase in environmental pollution and industrial regions.

Keywords: Traffic officers, taxi drivers, lead blood levels, cadmium blood levels

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