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

Conference · · Archives of Environmental Health; (United States)
OSTI ID:5820629

The authors examined a cohort of 1,274 first graders in school and a nested case-referent group of 200 children selected on the basis of their tooth-lead concentrations and matched for gender. The validity of the dentin lead as an exposure indicator was supported by significant relationships with the traffic density at the residence of the children at ages 0.5 to 3 y. In this cohort, lead showed no relationship to socioeconomic status. In the case-referent group, several neurobehavioral tests were employed: verbal WISC and Bender gastalt showed decreased performance in the children with the highest tooth-lead levels. Multivariate analysis showed that lead exposure could account for up to 29% of the variance in the Bender test. The high-lead group also had a higher proportion of children who needed special education in school. At age 9-10 y, the blood-lead levels averaged 0.28 {mu}mol/l (5.7 {mu}g/100 ml) in the high-lead group.

OSTI ID:
5820629
Report Number(s):
CONF-9008208--
Journal Information:
Archives of Environmental Health; (United States), Journal Name: Archives of Environmental Health; (United States) Vol. 46:3; ISSN 0003-9896; ISSN AEHLA
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English