Missile-related Lead Exposure and Blood Pressure in Patients with Retained Pellets in the Craniomaxillofacial Region

Background: Environmental and occupational lead exposures are known to cause an elevated blood pressure but can this concept be applied to missile-related lead exposure? Methods: We implemented a controlled, cohort study design to examine study samples with long-standing   missiles in craniomaxillofacial region using atomic absorption spectrophotometry and standard sphygmomanometry to measure the blood lead levels and blood pressure respectively. The predictor variable was blood lead levels and the outcome variable were blood pressure. Other variables were age, number of pellets, and duration of retention. Descriptive, bivariate and multivariate statistics were computed and the P-value was set at 0.05. Results: There was a significant, strong and positive association seen between diastolic blood pressure (r = 0.34;P< 0.001) unlike systolic blood pressure that showed an insignificant, weak and negative associations with blood lead levels(r = - 0.01, P = 0.82). Binary logistic regression showed that blood lead levels, though less significant, (OR= 1.24, P = 0.01, 95%CI = 1.04-1.42) had a higher likelihood to cause hypertension than the age of the patients (OR = 1.03, 95%CI=1.01-1.04, 0.003). Conclusion: The results of this study suggest an association between missiles-related lead exposure and the diastolic blood pressure.