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. 2011 May;101(5):834-41.
doi: 10.2105/AJPH.2010.193656. Epub 2011 Mar 18.

Environmental lead pollution and elevated blood lead levels among children in a rural area of China

Sihao Lin  1 , Xiaorong Wang, Ignatius Tak Sun Yu, Wenjuan Tang, Jianying Miao, Jin Li, Siying Wu, Xing Lin
Affiliations

Environmental lead pollution and elevated blood lead levels among children in a rural area of China

Sihao Lin et al. Am J Public Health. 2011 May.

Abstract

Objectives: We investigated environmental lead pollution and its impact on children's blood lead levels (BLLs) in a rural area of China.

Methods: In 2007, we studied 379 children younger than 15 years living in 7 villages near lead mines and processing plants, along with a control group of 61 children from another village. We determined their BLLs and collected environmental samples, personal data, and information on other potential exposures. We followed approximately 86% of the children who had high BLLs (> 15 μg/dL) for 1 year. We determined factors influencing BLLs by multivariate linear regression.

Results: Lead concentrations in soil and household dust were much higher in polluted villages than in the control village, and more children in the polluted area than in the control village had elevated BLLs (87%, 16.4 μg/dL vs 20%, 7.1 μg/dL). Increased BLL was independently associated with environmental lead levels. We found a significant reduction of 5 micrograms per deciliter when we retested children after 1 year.

Conclusions: Our data show that the lead industry caused serious environmental pollution that led to high BLLs in children living nearby.

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Figures

FIGURE 1
FIGURE 1
Locations in Fujian Province, China, of (A–G) 7 villages, 5 lead-related enterprises, several lead ore holes, and paved roads that were used mainly for transportation of lead products. Source. Department of Environmental Protection in Fujian Province. Investigation report of children's elevated blood lead level in Youxi County in Fujian [internal report], January 2008.
FIGURE 2
FIGURE 2
Scatter plot with fit line between log-household dust lead against log-BLL among 84 children: Fujian Province, China, 2007. Note. BLL = blood lead level. Children's BLLs rose with increasing household dust lead, with a coefficient of 0.699.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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