title: Environmental lead pollution and elevated blood lead levels among children in a rural area of China.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  We investigated environmental lead pollution and its impact on children's blood lead levels (BLLs) in a rural area of China.
  
  
  METHODS
  In 2007, we studied 379 children younger than 15 years living in 7 villages near lead mines and processing plants, along with a control group of 61 children from another village. We determined their BLLs and collected environmental samples, personal data, and information on other potential exposures. We followed approximately 86% of the children who had high BLLs (> 15 μg/dL) for 1 year. We determined factors influencing BLLs by multivariate linear regression.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Lead concentrations in soil and household dust were much higher in polluted villages than in the control village, and more children in the polluted area than in the control village had elevated BLLs (87%, 16.4 μg/dL vs 20%, 7.1 μg/dL). Increased BLL was independently associated with environmental lead levels. We found a significant reduction of 5 micrograms per deciliter when we retested children after 1 year.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Our data show that the lead industry caused serious environmental pollution that led to high BLLs in children living nearby.
authors.affiliation: Fujian Provincial Centre for Prevention and Control of Occupational Diseases and Chemical Poisoning, Fuzhou, China.
authors.forename: Sihao
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Lin
authors.forename: Xiaorong
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Ignatius Tak Sun
authors.initials: IT
authors.lastname: Yu
authors.forename: Wenjuan
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Tang
authors.forename: Jianying
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Miao
authors.forename: Jin
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Li
authors.forename: Siying
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Wu
authors.forename: Xing
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Lin
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D002681:China / Q000453:epidemiology; D004781:Environmental Exposure / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D004787:Environmental Pollution / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007854:Lead / Q000097:blood*; D007855:Lead Poisoning / Q000097:blood / Q000453:epidemiology*; D016014:Linear Models; D008297:Male; D008906:Mining; D012307:Risk Factors; D012424:Rural Population / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires
chemical_list: D007854:Lead