Hair trace elements in kidney dialysis patients by INAA

INAA was used to determine selected trace elements--Ca, Al, P, and S--in 104 cleaned scalp hair samples from kidney dialysis patients (n = 54) and healthy controls (n = 50) in order to explore any differences in these elements that might be related to prolonged dialysis and/or associated medication in comparison with blood serum levels of Al and P measured in the same clinic at the time of hair sampling. After correction for P (and Si) interference in Al content, it was observed that there were no significant differences (at 95% confidence level) in hair Al and Ca, which had been expected, whereas while there were definite increases in P and S. Multivariant factor analysis applied to the same data set, however, showed some multiple correlations among four variables: serum Al, duration of dialysis, medication, and hair Al.