Use of toenail-bounded heavy metals to characterize occupational exposure and oxidative stress in workers of waterpipe/cigarette cafés

Abstract

Tobacco smoke is known for releasing metals in indoor air of waterpipe/cigarette cafés. However, the worker exposure to metals, and its association with oxidative stress in these cafés are still unclear. To this end, 54 workers and 38 customers from waterpipe/cigarette cafés (the exposed group), 30 workers from non-smoking cafés (the control group 1 (CG_1)) and 32 individuals from the general population (the control group 2 (CG_2)) were selected and toenails samples were then taken from them. Our findings revealed a significant difference in terms of toenail-bounded metal levels between the exposure and control groups (CG_1 and CG_2) (Mann-Whitney U test, P value \ 0.05). This study has also indicated that ''type of tobacco'' could be considered as a predictor for toenail-bounded heavy metals.Furthermore, our research's results suggest that toenail-bounded heavy metals are positively and significantly correlated with urinary levels of 8-hydroxy-2 0deoxyguanosine (8-OHdG, as a biomarker for the degradation of deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) oxidative stress). Therefore, it can be concluded that workers of waterpipe/cigarette cafés are at high risks of adverse health of DNA oxidative degradation.

The Systematic Review of Environmental Pollutants in the Indoor Air of Waterpipe Café

“…Indoor air pollution from tobacco smoking (such as waterpipe smoking) has become a global public health challenge due to its toxicity, carcinogenicity, and cardiovascular effects (2). The health outcomes of tobacco use result from the interaction of the body with the dangerous and poisonous compounds found in tobacco smoke, which subsequently enter the human body via repeated puffs (3). As a result, higher indoor concentrations of these pollutants reduce the quality of the air in the cafe and put the consumers at serious risk of cardiovascular disease, lung cancer, bronchial asthma, and other respiratory illnesses (6,8,11).…”