An Investigation of Outpatient Children's Blood Lead Level in Wuhan China

OBJECTIVE Blood lead levels (BLLs) and possible influencing factors in children in Wuhan China were investigated in order to understand current lead pollution exposure and provide a scientific basis for prevention and policy making. MATERIALS AND METHODS BLL data were collected from 15,536 out-patients in Wuhan Children Hospital in 2012 full year. All of them were under 18 years of age (Mean ± SD: 4.32 ± 3.2, 64.4% boys). The BLLs were measured by an atomic absorption spectrometry (BH2100). RESULTS The geometric mean of BLLs for all the subjects was 44.75 µg/L (95%CI: 44.46 µg/L - 45.05 µg/L), much lower than that reported in previous studies. The prevalence of the elevated BLLs (≥ 100 µg/L) in the children tested was 2% in 2012 and the prevalence of BLLs (≥ 50 µg/L) was 44%. Age and sex could be possible influencing factors for BLLs in the children (p<0.001). In addition, the BLLs in different seasons were different (p<0.001). CONCLUSIONS These results demonstrate that BLLs have significantly decreased in children in Wuhan during recent years. However, we should continuously pay attention to lead pollution and emphasize that prevention is much more important than treatment for controlling children's BLLs.