STUDIES ON SOME TRACE AND MINOR ELEMENTS IN BLOOD - A SURVEY OF THE KALPAKKAM (INDIA) POPULATION .2. REFERENCE VALUES FOR PLASMA AND RED-CELLS, AND CORRELATION WITH CORONARY RISK INDEX

Since data on the trace element levels in Indian population are lackin g, we chose to conduct a survey of the Kalpakkam township population. People in the age group 40-55 were included in this study. Reference v alues for trace and minor elements of the blood of the Kalpakkam popul ation were arrived at by carrying out the analysis of plasma and red c ells of healthy subjects of the Kalpakkam population. Although the ''r eference values'' for many elements were found to be normal and compar able to values available in the literature, slight deficiency with res pect to Se was noticed. Subjects with high coronary risk index were al so included in the study to assess the possible correlation of element al and Lipid profile. A study of box plots showed that the elements Se , Mg, Na, K, and Fe show significant differences between ''high risk'' coronary risk index (CRI > 5) and ''no risk'' (CRI < 4.5). in the pla sma, the levels of Mg, Na, and K were found to be less in the high-ris k group. In red cells, the amount of Se, Fe, and K were found to be si gnificantly less in the ''high-risk'' group as compared to the ''no-ri sk'' group.