Blood pressure, left ventricular mass, and lead exposure in battery manufacturing workers.
BACKGROUND
Although debate about the relationship between lead and blood pressure has focused on low environmental lead levels, industrial exposure remains a concern.


METHODS
We measured blood pressure and left ventricular mass (LVM) in 108 battery manufacturing workers, and calculated cumulative and historic average measures of blood lead.


RESULTS
Diastolic pressure increased with increasing lead levels, with a significant (P = 0.04) 5 mmHg difference in mean pressure between the highest and lowest cumulative exposure levels. Diastolic pressure increased with the log of cumulative lead (P = 0.06). Both hypertension (defined as currently medicated or systolic > 160 mmHg or diastolic > 95 mmHg) and LVM increased nonsignificantly with increasing lead exposure (P-values > or = 0.17 for hypertension and > or = 0.20 for LVM).


CONCLUSIONS
We found a small effect of blood lead on diastolic blood pressure, particularly for a cumulative measure of exposure, but no convincing evidence of associations between lead and other blood-pressure-related outcomes. Published 2001 Wiley-Liss, Inc.
Tepper
A
A
Division of Surveillance, Hazard Evaluations, and Field Studies, National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, Cincinnati, Ohio 45226, USA. atepper@cdc.gov
Mueller
C
C
Singal
M
M
Sagar
K
K
D000328:Adult; D000886:Anthropometry; D001794:Blood Pressure; D004452:Echocardiography; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D006973:Hypertension / Q000139:chemically induced* / Q000453:epidemiology; D017379:Hypertrophy, Left Ventricular / Q000139:chemically induced* / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000453:epidemiology; D007854:Lead / Q000009:adverse effects*; D016015:Logistic Models; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D016273:Occupational Exposure / Q000009:adverse effects* / Q000032:analysis; D016017:Odds Ratio; D014481:United States / Q000453:epidemiology
D007854:Lead