Faculty of Medicine, El Imam El Mahdi University, Sudan.

Faculty of Medicine, Alneelain University, Khartoum, Sudan

Omdurman University, Sudan.

Faculty of Medicine, University of Khartoum, P.O. Box 102, 11111, Khartoum, Sudan.

Faculty of Medicine, Alneelain University, Khartoum, Sudan
Lead ,Cadmium ,Trace elements ,Pregnancy ,Sudan ,

Exposure to heavy metals such as lead and cadmium during pregnancy carries a great risk to the mother as well as the unborn fetus. There was few published data on the materno-fetal exposure of the heavy metals in Africa and there was no published data on heavy metals in Sudan. A cross sectional study was conducted at Wad Medani Maternity Hospital, Sudan to determine lead, and cadmium serum levels in paired maternal and umbilical cord. Data was collected from 98 paired maternal and umbilical cord blood. The lead and cadmium levels were measured by atomic absorption. The geometric mean (standard deviation) concentrations of maternal and cord blood lead, and cadmium were 45.45 (23.79) μg/L, 7.28(5.16) μg/L, 40.2 (27.56) μg/L, and 5.51 (4.24) μg/L, respectively. There was a no correlation between the maternal/cord lead and cadmium level. Thus the current study reflects high levels of these elements which need an intervention

6 , 6 , 2016