Relationship of bone and blood lead levels to psychiatric symptoms: the normative aging study.
Blood and bone lead levels were used to investigate lead's potential effect on psychiatric symptoms among middle-aged to elderly men from the Normative Aging Study. Symptoms were assessed using the Brief Symptom Inventory (BSI) and analyzed as individual outcomes as well as a measure that combined anxiety, depression, and phobic anxiety. Blood and bone lead averaged 6.3 microg/dL (standard deviation [SD] = 4.16), 21.9 microg/g (SD = 13.5), and 32.1 microg/g (SD = 19.8) for blood, tibia, and patella lead, respectively. In logistic regression models that adjusted for age, alcohol intake, employment status, and education status, we found that patella bone lead was significantly associated with an increased risk of phobic anxiety and the combined outcome measure at the P </= 0.05 level. Tibia and blood lead had similar associations. We conclude that cumulative lead exposure, which bone lead levels reflect, could be a risk factor for psychiatric symptoms even at modest levels of exposure.
Rhodes
Daniel
D
Occupational Health Program, Department of Environmental Health, Harvard School of Public Health, Boston, Massachusetts, USA. DanRho@aol.com
Spiro
Avron
A
Aro
Antonio
A
Hu
Howard
H
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000375:Aging / Q000097:blood; D000428:Alcohol Drinking; D001842:Bone and Bones / Q000737:chemistry*; D001900:Boston / Q000453:epidemiology; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D004522:Educational Status; D004781:Environmental Exposure / Q000009:adverse effects; D006801:Humans; D007854:Lead / Q000009:adverse effects* / Q000097:blood / Q000378:metabolism; D016015:Logistic Models; D008297:Male; D001523:Mental Disorders / Q000097:blood / Q000139:chemically induced* / Q000175:diagnosis; D008875:Middle Aged; D011569:Psychiatric Status Rating Scales
D007854:Lead