Lead concentration in human hair in Russia: a systematic review

BACKGROUND: Extensive measures to reduce lead concentrations in the biosphere are implemented in many countries, therefore, the world community predicts a decrease in the quantitative content of lead in the environment. The concentration of lead in human hair is considered as an indicator of environmental pollution, therefore, systematized information on this indicator in the subjects of the Russian Federation is necessary to assess the effectiveness of environmental measures. MATERIAL AND METHODS: This is a systematic review following PRISMA guidelines. We performed a systematic search and qualitative synthesis of scientific literature on hair concentrations of lead across Russia between 2011 and 2021. PubMed and eLIBRARY.RU were the main sources of scientific information in English and Russian, respectively. Initial search returned 1748 matches. Thirty-seven papers remained for qualitative synthesis after screening and eligibility analysis. RESULTS: During the study period, the results of studies on 27 subjects of the Russian Federation were published, which is one third of all subjects of the federation. No heterogeneity was observed in sample preparation while methods of laboratory analysis varied between the settings and included inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry, atomic absorption spectrometry and inversion voltammetry. The sample sizes ranged from 5 to 5908 individuals. The average lead concentrations varied between 0.01 and 6.54 mg/kg. The greatest concentrations of lead were reported in the Orenburg (6.54 mg/kg) and Chita Regions (4.35 mg/kg). CONCLUSION: Two-thirds of all subjects of the Russian Federation for the period 20112021 are not covered by the study, so there are no data on the concentration of lead in the hair of the population of these regions. Further data collection should be performed using representative and sufficient sample samples while presentation of the results should contain detailed information on methods of data collection and analysis to ensure reproducibility and comparability of the findings.