Interlaboratory Comparison Investigations (ICIs) for human biomonitoring of chromium as part of the quality assurance programme under HBM4EU

Nübler S, Schäfer M, Haji-Abbas-Zarrabi K, Marković S, Marković K, Esteban López M, Castaño A, Mol H, Koch HM, Antignac JP, Hajslova J, Thomsen C, Vorkamp K, Göen T (2022)

Publication Type: Journal article

Publication year: 2022

Journal

Journal of Trace Elements in Medicine and Biology Elsevier

Book Volume: 70

Article Number: 126912

DOI: 10.1016/j.jtemb.2021.126912

Abstract

Background: The pan-European human biomonitoring initiative HBM4EU targets the harmonization of human biomonitoring (HBM) procedures and data for both environmental and occupational exposure, including chromium. The determination of chromium in urine (U-Cr), plasma (P-Cr) and whole blood (WB-Cr) is a common HBM application in employees occupationally exposed to chromium (VI) compounds. Methods: European laboratories which have registered as candidate laboratories for chromium analysis within HBM4EU were invited to participate in a quality assurance/qualitycontrol (QA/QC) programme comprising interlaboratory comparison investigations (ICI) for the parameters U-Cr, P-Cr and WB-Cr. Participating laboratories received two samples of different concentrations in each of four rounds and were asked to analyse the samples using their standard analytical procedure. The data were evaluated by the Z-score approach and were reported to the participants after each round. Results: The majority of the 29 participating laboratories obtained satisfactory results, although low limits of quantification were required to quantify chromium concentrations in some of the ICI materials. The robust relative standard deviation of the participants’ results (study RSDR) obtained from all ICI runs ranged from 6 to 16 % for U-Cr, 7–18 % for P-Cr and 4–47 % for WB-Cr. The application of both inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) and electrothermal atomic absorption spectrometry (EAAS) appeared appropriate for the determination of chromium in urine, plasma and whole blood with regard to occupational exposure levels. Conclusion: This QA/QC programme succeeded in establishing a network of laboratories with high analytical comparability and accuracy for the analysis of chromium across Europe.

Authors with CRIS profile

Stefanie Nübler Lehrstuhl für Arbeits-, Sozial- und Umweltmedizin Moritz Schäfer Lehrstuhl für Arbeits-, Sozial- und Umweltmedizin Thomas Göen Lehrstuhl für Arbeits-, Sozial- und Umweltmedizin

Involved external institutions

Instituto de Salud Carlos III (Institute of Health Carlos III, ISCIII) ES Spain (ES) Wageningen University & Research NL Netherlands (NL) Norwegian Institute of Public Health (NIPH) / Folkehelseinstituttet NO Norway (NO) Jožef Stefan Institute SI Slovenia (SI) Université Nantes Angers Le Mans FR France (FR) Aarhus University DK Denmark (DK) Ruhr-Universität Bochum (RUB) DE Germany (DE) University of Chemistry and Technology (UCT) / Vysoká škola chemicko-technologická (VŠCHT) CZ Czech Republic (CZ)

How to cite

APA:

Nübler, S., Schäfer, M., Haji-Abbas-Zarrabi, K., Marković, S., Marković, K., Esteban López, M.,... Göen, T. (2022). Interlaboratory Comparison Investigations (ICIs) for human biomonitoring of chromium as part of the quality assurance programme under HBM4EU. Journal of Trace Elements in Medicine and Biology, 70. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jtemb.2021.126912

MLA:

Nübler, Stefanie, et al. "Interlaboratory Comparison Investigations (ICIs) for human biomonitoring of chromium as part of the quality assurance programme under HBM4EU." Journal of Trace Elements in Medicine and Biology 70 (2022).

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