Alterations of Hair and Nail Content of Selected Trace Elements in Nonoccupationally Exposed Patients with Chronic Depression from Different Geographical Regions

Table 3

Contents of studied elements (in mg/kg on dry mass basis) in hair and nails of studied and control groups according to the place of residence ().

Element	Sample matrix	Patients () from		Mann–Whitney test	Healthy volunteers () from		Mann–Whitney test
		Taiwan (155)	Poland (140)		Taiwan (60)	Poland (60)
		Mean			Mean ± SD
Zn	Hair						NS
	Nails
Cu	Hair			NS			NS
	Nails
Mn	Hair			NS			NS
	Nails
Co	Hair			NS			NS
	Nails
Fe	Hair			NS			NS
	Nails
Pb	Hair			NS			NS
	Nails					0.099 ± 0.36

: standard deviation; : nonsignificant difference.