Title

Occupational exposure to heavy metals: A review of health outcomes and safety interventions

Authors

Meghna Dipakkumar Chaudhary¹,*, Rajvi D. Chaudhary², Kshitij Sale³, Chaitanya Chaudhary⁴, Pranav Manek⁵, Nirav Parmar⁶, Miral Mehta⁷ & Dhaval Niranjan Mehta⁸

Affiliation

¹Department of Environmental Health & Safety, Amneal Pharmaceuticals, USA; ²Health Informatics, Rutgers University, USA; ³Alumni, Information Technology, Rutgers University, USA; ⁴Department of Artificial Intelligence & Machine Learning, Rutgers University, USA; ⁵Department of Global and Population Health, Henry M Goldmsan School of Dental Medicine, Boston University, USA; ⁶Department of Conservative Dentistry and Endodontics, Faculty of Dental Science, Dharmsinh Desai University, Nadiad, Gujarat, India; ⁷Department of Pediatric and Preventive Dentistry, Karnavati School of Dentistry, Uvarsad, Gandhinagar, Gujarat, India; ⁸Department of Oral Medicine and Radiology, Narsinhbhai Patel Dental College and Hospital, Sankalchand Patel University, Visnagar, Gujarat, India; *Corresponding author

Email

Meghna Dipakkumar Chaudhary - E-mail: meghnadc9@gmail.com; Phone: +91 9143438023

Rajvi D. Chaudhary - E-mail: rajvee97@gmail.com; Phone: +19 8622981304

Kshitij Sale - E-mail: kshitij.sale19@gmail.com; Phone: +1-862-872-0899

Chaitanya Chaudhary - E-mail: chaitu.d.chaudhary@gmail.com; Phone: +1-862-300-9369

Pranav Manek - E-mail: drpranav@bu.edu; Phone: +91 8200639595

Nirav Parmar - E-mail: drniravparmar@gmail.com; Phone: +91 9974525102

Miral Mehta - E-mail: miral9829@gmail.com; Phone: +91 9427704737

Dhaval Niranjan Mehta - E-mail: drdhaval80@gmail.com; Phone: +91 9825528915

Article Type

Review

Date

Received January 1, 2026; Revised January 31, 2026; Accepted January 31, 2026, Published January 31, 2026

Abstract

Occupational exposure to heavy metals such as lead, mercury, cadmium and arsenic remains a major global health problem, causing significant morbidity despite decades of regulation. Therefore, it is interest to narrative review data on the pathophysiology, clinical effects and diagnostic biomarkers associated with these exposures. Oxidative stress, enzyme inhibition and ionic mimicry explains the widespread neurotoxic, nephrotoxic, cardiovascular and carcinogenic outcomes. Preventive strategies, including engineering controls and rigorous biomonitoring, are evaluated alongside therapeutic options such as chelation. Thus, protecting worker health requires prioritizing primary prevention and strengthening protocols to reduce exposure at its source.

Keywords

Occupational health, heavy metals, lead, mercury, cadmium, neurotoxicity, bio-monitoring, safety interventions.

Citation

Chaudhary et al. Bioinformation 22(1): 547-552 (2026

Edited by

P Kangueane

ISSN

0973-2063

Publisher

Biomedical Informatics

License

This is an Open Access article which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly credited. This is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License.