Health risks associated with inhalation exposure to toxic metal(loid)s in the City of Novi Sad

The toxic metal(loid)s bound to particulate matter (PM) in ambient air can cause serious harm to human health. The current study aimed to investigate the toxic element composition of PM10 (diameter up to 10 µm) and to address the risks to human health.

Sampling of PM10 was performed at five sites (basic-rural/urban, urban-/suburban-traffic, industrial) in the City of Novi Sad during 2024. A total of 1357 samples was subjected to microwave digestion followed by the ICP-MS determination of lead (Pb), cadmium (Cd), arsenic (As), and nickel (Ni) content.

The overall share of the samples with quantified amounts of elements was 85.3% Pb > 65.2% As > 36.6% Cd > 27.7% Ni. The lowest mean concentrations (ng/m³) were recorded at the basic-urban site (Pb 4.5, Cd 0.15, As 0.80, Ni 3,0), while the highest were related to the suburban-traffic (Pb 5.9, Cd 0.24, As 0.83) and urban-traffic site (Ni 4.2); the order of the concentrations averaged over all monitored sites (ng/m³) was as follows: Pb 5.1 > Ni 3.4 > As 0.80 > Cd 0.20. The Hazard index (HI), an indicator of non-carcinogenic risk, ranged from 0.29 in the basic-rural/-urban to 0.38 in the suburban-traffic site, with a mean of0.32 (averaging over all the sites), revealing no health risk. Ni was the element with by far the highest contribution to non-carcinogenic risk (68.3%). Carcinogenic risk for children ranged from 6.8E-07 (basic-urban) to 7.6E-07 (urban-traffic), with a mean of7.2E-07, showing negligible risk. In the case of adults, carcinogenic risk varied only slightly, with a mean of2.9E-06, indicating low risk. As was the element with by far the highest contribution to carcinogenic risk (68.7%), followed by Ni (16.1%), Pb (8.0%), and Cd (7.2%).

Considering that toxic metal(loid)s are ubiquitous contaminants, low levels of risk indicators related to the inhalation exposure are not enough to ensure protection of human health.