Lessons from a Danish study on neuropsychological impairment related to lead exposure

Journal Article · Thu Aug 01 00:00:00 EDT 1991 · Environmental Health Perspectives; (United States)

DOI:https://doi.org/10.2307/3431302· OSTI ID:6052755

Grandjean, P; Lyngbye, T ^[1]; Hansen, O N ^[2]

---

1. Odense Univ. (Denmark)
2. Herning Central Hospital (Denmark)

Serious problems emerge when evaluating evidence on lead neurotoxicity in children. The extent of these problems and ways to control them were explored in a study of 1291 children from the first class in the schools of Aarhus municipality, Denmark. The lead retention in circumpulpal dentin in shed deciduous teeth was used as an indicator of cumulated lead exposure; it correlated most strongly with traffic density at the residence of each family and at the day-care institutions. In a nested case-control group selected on the basis of dentin lead concentrations, 29 of 200 children had encountered obstetrical complications and other medical risks for neurobehavioral dysfunction; these children primarily belonged to the low-lead group. As lead-related neurobehavioral effects are nonspecific, inclusion of these children in the data analysis would therefore have distorted the results toward the null hypothesis. Children from the high-lead group who had experienced neonatal jaundice showed impaired performance when compared to other high-lead children; this finding may suggest a synergistic effect. The Bender gestalt test scored by the Goettingen system was the test that was most sensitive to lead exposure. The conclusion that neurobehavioral effects can be caused by the relatively low lead exposures in Denmark may not be surprising, as current exposures to this toxic metal greatly exceed the prepollution levels to which the human body originally adapted.

• OSTI ID: 6052755
• Journal Information: Environmental Health Perspectives; (United States), Vol. 94; ISSN 0091-6765
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

63 RADIATION, THERMAL, AND OTHER ENVIRON. POLLUTANT EFFECTS ON LIVING ORGS. AND BIOL. MAT.
LEAD COMPOUNDS
TOXICITY
NERVOUS SYSTEM DISEASES
EPIDEMIOLOGY
BEHAVIOR
BLOOD CHEMISTRY
CHILDREN
DENMARK
DENTIN
STATISTICAL MODELS
TEETH
AGE GROUPS
BIOCHEMISTRY
CHEMISTRY
DEVELOPED COUNTRIES
DIGESTIVE SYSTEM
DISEASES
EUROPE
MATHEMATICAL MODELS
ORAL CAVITY
SCANDINAVIA
560300* - Chemicals Metabolism & Toxicology