title: Validity and interpretation of blood lead levels: a study of Danish school children.
abstract: Blood lead concentrations were measured in a group of children from a group of 9- to 10-year-old school children in Aarhus, Denmark. The study group was selected as a high-level and a low-level lead group, as identified by the lead concentration in the circumpulpal dentine in deciduous teeth shed 2-3 years previously. The validity of the blood sampling technique was investigated in adult volunteers, and lead was determined by electrothermal atomic absorption. Capillary blood sampling by a finger-stick method was preferred, as the slight contamination caused by this technique was deemed acceptable. The children with the highest dentine lead levels (n = 70), had blood lead concentrations of 0.08-0.63 mumol/l and a geometric mean of 0.28 mumol/l. The children with lowest dentine levels (n = 76) had blood lead concentrations of 0.08-0.70 mumol/l and a geometric mean of 0.18 mumol/l. The blood lead concentrations were compared with interview data on behaviour, family habits, diet, parents' tobacco smoking and occupation, water lead measurements, and traffic counts. A total of 20% of the variation in blood lead was explained by parents' tobacco smoking, the child's number in the sibship, gender, and consumption of canned food at home.
authors.affiliation: Department of Environmental Medicine, Odense University, Denmark.
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Lyngbye
authors.forename: P J
authors.initials: PJ
authors.lastname: Jørgensen
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Grandjean
authors.forename: O N
authors.initials: ON
authors.lastname: Hansen
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001800:Blood Specimen Collection; D002648:Child; D003718:Denmark; D003804:Dentin / Q000032:analysis; D004781:Environmental Exposure; D005191:Family Characteristics; D005260:Female; D005519:Food Preservation; D006801:Humans; D007854:Lead / Q000097:blood*; D008297:Male; D012727:Sex Characteristics; D012907:Smoking / Q000009:adverse effects; D013054:Spectrophotometry, Atomic
chemical_list: D007854:Lead