Exposure to nickel from the metal equipment in the gym

Abstract

It remains unclear whether gym customers are exposed to any nickel from the metal equipment and if the exposure is associated with the duration of contact. Therefore, the aim of this study was to ascertain exposure to nickel measured through nickel concentration in the hair in those exercising in a fitness gym. We enrolled 100 amateur athletes in one of the gyms in Almaty, Kazakhstan (all men, median age 30 (interquartile range (IQR) 10) years), exercising from 2 to 7 days a week for 40 to 180 minutes and their age- and sex-matched controls who did not exercise. All subjects filled in the questionnaires on the exercising patterns, smoking and occupational exposure and then donated 0.25 g of head hair, in which nickel was measured using atomic absorption spectrophotometry. Hair nickel concentration ranged from 0 to 8.5 µg/g with notable left-skewness towards low concentrations in both groups. Hair nickel concentration was not associated with age, smoking or occupation, but was significantly lower in amateur athletes compared to controls (median 0 (IQR 0.5) vs. 0.9 (IQR 1.4) µg/g). More days a week in a gym, longer workout history, longer workout duration or supplements use did not increase the probability of being stratified in a high-exposure subgroup (defined as 75th percentile of hair nickel concentration and higher); however, there were more smokers in a low-exposure group (p<0.05). With the mixed pattern of exposure, gym goers may be unlikely exposed to more nickel from the metal equipment in the gym, however the exposure may depend on the specific alloy composition.