The clinical picture of childhood lead poisoning has changed dramatically over the past 20 years. Acute symptomatic lead poisoning, once a common problem, is now a rare event. Lead encephalopathy is even rarer. Most pediatric residents will not see a case of acute plumbism during their training; few will encounter the problem in their career. At the same time, epidemiologic studies from around ...

A group of 45 male adolescents and young adults, beginning treatment for behavior disorder or learning disability, was found to exhibit increased systolic blood pressure, decreased hand-eye coordination as measured by the Pursuit-Rotor, shortened reaction times, and lowered lactic dehydrogenase, all significantly correlated with tissue (hair) lead concentrations considered to be in the normal r...