关键词: 铅, 锰, 镉, 神经认知功能, 空间记忆能力, 目标追踪注意力, 空间旋转能力

Abstract: Objective To investigate the effects of exposure to heavy metals such as lead, manganese and cadmium on children's growth, development and neurocognitive function. Methods Totally 243 children who underwent preschool physical examination in Shilong Town Hospital in Dongguan City from September 2017 to September 2019 were enrolled in this study.The content of blood lead, manganese and cadmium was measured, and then children were divided into high-lead (n=31) and low-lead group (n=212), high-manganese (n=46) and low-manganese group (n=197), high-cadmium (n=50) and low-cadmium group (n=193).Correlations of the three heavy metals levels with children's age, height, weight, spatial memory ability, target tracking attention, spatial rotation ability were analyzed to explore the impact of blood lead, manganese and cadmium on neurocognitive function of children. Results The height of children in high-lead group was lower than that in low-lead group.Blood lead level was negatively correlated with children's height, spatial memory ability, target tracking attention and spatial rotation ability (r=-0.180, -0.367, -0.334, -0.217, P＜0.05).Blood cadmium level was negatively related to spatial memory capacity (r=-0.140, P＜0.05).Blood manganese had no significant correlation with age, height, weight, spatial memory ability, target tracking attention and spatial rotation ability (P＞0.05). Conclusions The increase of blood lead level may affect the growth and development of children in this area.In addition, the increase of lead and cadmium may impact the neurocognitive function, especially the decrease of memory ability.It is necessary to detect heavy metal pollution as early as possible and intervene in time to ensure children's physical and mental health.

Key words: lead, manganese, cadmium, neurocognitive function, spatial memory ability, target tracking attention, spatial rotation ability