title: Blood lead screening in Ontario children: blood lead and free erythrocyte protoporphyrin levels.
abstract: A blood lead survey was conducted on samples from 2459 children aged 3-6 years to determine the prevalence of lead poisoning in children of this age in the Province of Ontario. Lead poisoning, defined as a blood lead concentration greater than or equal to 1.21 mumol 1-1 (25 micrograms dl-1), was found in 26 subjects (1.1% of the samples). The mean blood lead concentration for children from southern Ontario was 0.50 mumol l-1, and for those from northern Ontario it was 0.37 mumol l-1. Stringent quality controls and independent cross-checks of finger-prick capillary blood sampling were employed in the study. The free erythrocyte protoporphyrin levels were also monitored to detect the presence of iron deficiency in the children.
authors.affiliation: Biochemistry Section, Ontario Ministry of Health, Toronto, Canada.
authors.forename: S T
authors.initials: ST
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Pizzolato
authors.forename: H P
authors.initials: HP
authors.lastname: Demshar
mesh_terms: D001800:Blood Specimen Collection / Q000592:standards; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D004912:Erythrocytes / Q000032:analysis*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007854:Lead / Q000097:blood*; D007855:Lead Poisoning / Q000453:epidemiology*; D008297:Male; D009864:Ontario / Q000453:epidemiology; D011166:Porphyrins / Q000032:analysis*; D015995:Prevalence; D011524:Protoporphyrins / Q000032:analysis*; D011786:Quality Control; D012044:Regression Analysis; D013048:Specimen Handling / Q000592:standards; D013054:Spectrophotometry, Atomic
chemical_list: D011166:Porphyrins; D011524:Protoporphyrins; D007854:Lead