An epidemiological survey of blood lead level in tibetan youth 10-18 years old in Songpan, China.
There are few studies on Tibetan youth's blood lead level (BLL) and environmental pollution in China. The objective of this project was to conduct a preliminary investigation on the blood lead level of Tibetan youth. Chinese Han youth's BLL was also investigated as a control group. A total of 846 Tibetan youth and 785 Han youth were tested for BLL from September to October in 2007. Both of the mean BLL (6.4 microg/dL) and the frequency of high BLL (> or =10 microg/dL) of Tibetan youth (7.7%, 65 of 846) were lower than those of Han youth (6.7 microg/dL; 13.2%, 104 of 785). But they are still higher compared with the BLL of youth in developed countries (1.1 microg/dL; USA 2005 census). The BLL of boys was significantly higher than that of girls, both in Tibetan and Han youth (p = 0.033 and p = 0.000, respectively). The study shows that Chinese Han and Tibetan youth's lead poisoning prevention and treatment lags far behind developed countries. These findings have implications for environmental health policy.
Zhou
Wenjie
W
Department of Laboratory Medicine, West China Second University Hospital, Sichuan University, No. 20, Section 3, Ren Min Nan Lu, Chengdu, Sichuan, 610041, People's Republic of China.
Jiang
Yongmei
Y
Shi
Hua
H
Liu
Jinhao
J
Shen
Chuan
C
Dai
Qingkai
Q
Yang
Hui
H
D000293:Adolescent; D002648:Child; D002681:China; D003625:Data Collection; D004781:Environmental Exposure; D016021:Epidemiologic Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007854:Lead / Q000097:blood*; D007855:Lead Poisoning / Q000517:prevention & control; D008297:Male
D007854:Lead