Estimation of the geometric means and the reference values of blood lead levels among Koreans.

Blood lead concentrations of Koreans who have not been exposed to lead occupationally, show a wide range of variation. Despite the fact that blood lead concentration reveals a long-normal distribution, geometric means and standard deviations have not been presented in almost all studies on blood lead levels in Koreans. A new meta-analytical method was applied to estimate the theoretical geometric means, the standard deviations of the logarithm, and the reference values of blood lead concentrations among Koreans based on arithmetic means and standard deviations reported, and to compare them to those of other countries. Estimated geometric means of Korean men, women, and men and women, were 18.03, 13.13, and 15.80 micrograms/dl, respectively. Values of 90, 95, and 99 percentile for Korean men were 31.81, 37.36, and 50.52 micrograms/dl, for women, 28.41, 35.34, and 53.24 micrograms/dl, and for men and women, 31.42 micrograms/dl, 38.17 micrograms/dl, and 54.95 micrograms/dl, respectively. These values are higher than those of neighboring countries, such as China and Japan.