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Table 6 Essential Minerals and non-essential minerals measured in whole blood, RBC, serum, and urine

From: Nutritional and metabolic status of children with autism vs. neurotypical children, and the association with autism severity

Essential Minerals + other minerals

Units

Autism Group

Neuro-typical Group

% Difference

p-value

Neurotypical Reference Range (10th and 90th percentiles)

Autism Group % below RR

Autism Group % above RR

Tietz Ref. Range[39]

NHANES1999-2002 Reference Range (6-11 yr and 12-19 yr)[38]

Sonora Quest Ref. Range

Calcium-WB

mg/dl

5.9

+/- 0.4

5.8

+/- 0.3

 

n.s.

5.45-6.20

11%

11%

   

Calcium-RBC

μg/g

19.3

+/-7

22.4

+/- 6

-14%

0.02

12.5-29.5

31%

7%

   

Calcium-Serum (total)

mg/dl

9.6

+/- 0.5

9.6

+/- 0.2

 

n.s.

9.25-9.9

13%

9%

8.8-10.8

(2-12 yr)

 

8.8-10.8

(2-12 yr)

Chromium-RBC

ng/g

0.91

+/-0.5

0.80

+/- 0.4

 

n.s.

0.3-14

9%

16%

   

Copper-WB

μg/dL

95

+/-11

89

+/- 14

+7%

0.02

70-108.5

0%

11%

   

Copper-RBC

μg/g

0.76

+/-0.08

0.72

+/- 0.09

+5%

0.03

0.61-0.86

2%

13%

   

Iodine-Urine

μg/mg-creatinine

0.24

+/- 0.2

0.26

+/- 0.3

 

n.s.

0.097-0.57

25%

4%

 

0.116-0.699

0.067-0.364

 

Iron-RBC

μg/g

891

+/-94

833

+/- 64

+7%

0.0005 *

764-922

2%

42%

   

Iron-Serum

μg/dl

83

+/- 34

87

+/- 35

 

n.s.

42-130

7%

7%

50-120

(child)

39-126

45-141

28-136

(6-14 yr)

Serum Ferritin

μg/l

39.1

+/- 22

36.9

+/- 17

 

n.s.

17-63

9%

16%

7-140

(1 - 15 yr)

11-74

8.0-115

 

Lithium-WB

μg/L

1.7

+/-0.8

3.6

+/- 6

-52%

0.006 W

1-5.0

11%

0%

   

Lithium-WB (without 3 highest neurotypical outliers #)

μg/L

 

2.2

+/- 1.1

-23%

0.006 W

3.25-3.90

13%

7%

   

Magnesium-WB

mg/dl

3.53

+/-0.31

3.64

+/- 0.26

-3%

0.02 W

42-54.5

18%

22%

   

Magnesium-RBC

μg/g

48.9

+/-6

47.5

+/- 5

 

n.s.

1.8-2.2

4%

2%

  

40-64

(adult)

Magnesium-Serum

mg/dl

1.95

+/- 0.14

2.03

+/- 0.15

-4%

0.02 W

8-16

13%

15%

1.7-2.1

(6-12 yr)

 

1.7-2.4

(adult)

Manganese-WB

μg/L

12.1

+/4

11.6

+/- 3

 

n.s.

0.012-0.025

11%

20%

7.7-12.1

(adult)

  

Manganese-RBC

μg/g

0.021

+/-0.007

0.018

+/- 0.005

+12%

0.07 W

1-1.8

6%

7%

   

Molybdenum-WB

μg/L

1.4

+/-0.4

1.4

+/- 0.3

 

n.s.

0.15-0.30

7%

13%

0.8-3.3

(adult)

  

Molybdenum-RBC

ng/g

0.93

+/- 0.3

0.98

+/- 0.2

 

n.s.

520-629

7%

33%

   

Phosphorus-RBC

μg/g

597

+/-59

567

+/- 43

+5%

0.004

3.85-5.35

6%

6%

   

Phosphorus-Serum

mg/dL

4.6

+/- 0.5

4.6

+/- 0.5

 

n.s.

73-83.5

9%

20%

4.5-5.5

(2-12 yr)

 

3.1-5.9

(4-12 yr)

Potassium -RBC

mEq/L

79

+/- 5.3

76.9

+/- 4.1

+3%

0.007 W

3.8-4.6

15%

9%

   

Potassium-Serum

mEq/L

4.1

+/- 0.3

4.2

+/- 0.3

 

n.s.

186-236

19%

9%

3.4-4.7

(child)

 

2.8-6.0

(child)

Selenium-WB

μg/L

207

+/-28

210

+/- 20

 

n.s.

0.20-0.27

9%

18%

58-234

(adult)

  

Selenium-RBC

μg/g

0.24

+/- 0.04

0.23

+/- 0.03

 

n.s.

136-139

9%

17%

0.07-0.24

(adult)

  

Sodium-Serum

mEq/l

138

+/- 2

137

+/- 1

 

n.s.

0.15-0.30

11%

2%

138-145

(child)

 

135-145

(adult)

Vanadium-RBC

ng/g

0.21

+/- 0.07

0.22 +/- 0.07

 

n.s.

465-657

7%

7%

   

Zinc-WB

μg/dL

551

+/-68

555

+/- 74

 

n.s.

6.8-10.8

2%

15%

   

Zinc-RBC

μg/g

9.2

+/-1.4

8.9

+/- 1.4

 

n.s.

      

Non-essential minerals

           

Boron-RBC

μg/g

0.029

+/-0.014

0.025

+/- 0.007

+16%

0.04

0.014-0.032

13%

36%

   

Strontium-WB

μg/L

25

+/-8

24

+/- 6

 

n.s

17-34

7%

6%

   
  1. The average levels of minerals measured in the Autism and Neurotypical groups are reported below, along with their standard deviations. The p-value for a t-test comparison of the two groups is also reported. If the p-value is below 0.05, then the % difference between the groups is reported. For several tests the data was not normally distributed, and in those cases a non-parametric Wilcoxon test (also known as the Mann-Whitney test) was used instead of a t-test - those p-values are marked with a W.
  2. The table also lists the reference range of the neurotypical group (10th and 90th percentiles), and the % of the Autism group who are above or below the reference ranges. Note that if the groups were identical, 10% would be above and 10% would be below. Percentages above 25% are highlighted. Reference Ranges from Tietz Textbook of Clinical Chemistry (Burtis and Ashwood 1999), the NHANES National Report, and Sonora Quest are given where available.
  3. # Note that the lithium level for the neurotypical group is greatly increased by three siblings with very high lithium levels of 16, 16, and 35 mcg/L. A second value for lithium is given for the neurotypical group without those 3 siblings; the difference between the autism group and this revised neurotypical group is smaller but slightly more significant.
  4. * Statistically significant difference between the two groups with 95% confidence per Bonferroni analysis.