title: Blood lead levels in Taiwanese adults: distribution and influencing factors.
abstract: Five-thousand nine-hundred thirteen Taiwanese adults were selected by multistage sampling methods to investigate environmental lead exposure in Taiwan. The blood specimens were distributed to six laboratories for blood lead levels (BLL) measurement. The mean BLL of the 5913 Taiwanese adults was 8.28 +/- 5.39 microg/dl, with a maximum level of 57.6 microg/dl. The median was 7.0 microg/dl and 90th percentile was 15.0 microg/dl. BLLs were associated with gender, ethnic group, education level, smoking, alcohol consumption, herbal drug consumption, milk consumption, sources of drinking water, level of urbanization, and occupational lead exposure. These results showed that BLLs in Taiwanese adults were stable during the 2-year study. Most of the influencing factors were consistent with other studies, while local risk factors, such as Chinese herbal drug consumption are important ways of preventing the general population from overexposure to lead.
authors.affiliation: School of Public Health, National Defense Medical Center, Center for Occupational Medicine, Tri-Service General Hospital, Taipei, Taiwan, ROC.
authors.forename: S H
authors.initials: SH
authors.lastname: Liou
authors.forename: T N
authors.initials: TN
authors.lastname: Wu
authors.forename: H C
authors.initials: HC
authors.lastname: Chiang
authors.forename: G Y
authors.initials: GY
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.forename: Y Q
authors.initials: YQ
authors.lastname: Wu
authors.forename: J S
authors.initials: JS
authors.lastname: Lai
authors.forename: S T
authors.initials: ST
authors.lastname: Ho
authors.forename: C C
authors.initials: CC
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.forename: Y C
authors.initials: YC
authors.lastname: Ko
authors.forename: K N
authors.initials: KN
authors.lastname: Ko
authors.forename: P Y
authors.initials: PY
authors.lastname: Chang
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D004781:Environmental Exposure; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007854:Lead / Q000097:blood*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011159:Population Surveillance; D015995:Prevalence; D012044:Regression Analysis; D012307:Risk Factors; D013624:Taiwan / Q000453:epidemiology
chemical_list: D007854:Lead