High iron accumulation in hair and nail of people living in iron affected areas of Assam, India.

Abstract Human populace of Assam, India repeatedly exposed to high concentration of iron in groundwater results in adverse health effects like hemochromatosis, liver cirrhosis and siderosis. In the present study, human hair and nail analysis were carried out to establish a possible relationship between iron toxicity and its deposition among the residents. Nail and hair iron concentrations ranged from 28.2 to 1046 μg g −1 ( n =114) and 26.5–838 ( n =108) μg g −1 levels, respectively, among all the study participants. The iron content of the groundwater (421–5340 μg L −1 ) ( n =64) used for drinking purposes was positively correlated with both nail ( r =0.788, p r =0.709, p 300 µg L −1 ) for 5 years (Group 1), for more than 5–10 years (Group 2) and for more than 10 years (Group 3). Results suggested that the participants consuming groundwater exceeding the WHO limit of iron had significantly more iron accumulation than those using groundwater containing ≤300 μg L −1 iron ( p p p p