ite Furnace/atomic Absorption Spectroscopy (GF-AAS) Followed by Chemometric Analysis. Iran Red Crescent Med J.2012;14(8):488-91.

Background: A comparison of oral/inhaled opium addicts with a healthy control group was investigated. Using the graphite furnace atomic absorption spectroscopy (GF-AAS) followed by chemometric analysis, sub-to-low µg L-1 con-centrations of blood lead level (BLL) was detected in both the addict and the control groups. Materials and Methods: In this study, BLL of 78 subjects (Iranian volunteers) in two opium-addicted (patient group) and healthy control groups was evaluated. All the volunteers were men. The patient group was comprised of 39 pa-tients who used opium orally or by inhalation with a mean age of 48.6 ± 7.3 years. The patient group was selected through systematic incidental sampling from 150 orally or by inhalation opium-addicted patients referred to Shariati Hospital located in Tehran.The control group (39 subjects) was matched with the patient group with regard to age and sex and with a mean age of 44.8 ± 5.6 years. Results: The mean concentration of lead was found to be significantly lower (P = 0.0001) in control group (16.70 ± 12.51 µg/dL) compared to addicts (57.04 ± 46.03 µg/dL). When the addicts were divided into various age groups, there appeared to be a significant difference (p = 0.0451) in blood lead concentration as a function of age, however when th