title: The blood lead levels of outpatients aged 1-18 years from Lu'an, China, 2012-2014.
abstract: To evaluate blood lead levels (BLLs) and possible influencing factors among children and adolescents in Lu'an, we collected blood samples of 3266 outpatients aged 1-18 years from January 2012 to December 2014 and BLLs were determined by atomizer absorption spectrophotometer. The results showed that the geometric mean (GM) of BLLs was 29.53μg/L (95% CI: 29.00-30.06μg/L) and the prevalence of BLLs ≥50 and 100μg/L were 17.7% and 0.2%, respectively. The GM BLLs and prevalence of BLLs ≥50μg/L were increased with age before 7 years old and then slightly decreased, and, contrary to previous studies, they were the highest at Jan-Feb and the lowest at Sep-Oct. From 2012 to 2014, the GM BLLs were significantly increased (P<0.001) while the prevalence of BLLs ≥50μg/L was decreased but with no significant difference (P>0.05). These results suggested that although the BLLs of Lu'an children were lower than most areas of China and several neighboring cities as previously reported, they were still higher than that of developed countries. Meanwhile, the GM BLLs of children and adolescents from Lu'an have a trend of increase in recent years. A lot of future works need to be done to identify the risk factors for lead exposure.
authors.affiliation: Clinical Laboratory Center, Lu'an People's Hospital, The Lu'an Affiliated Hospital of Anhui Medical University, Lu'an 237005, People's Republic of China. Electronic address: z02m14c588@aliyun.com.
authors.forename: Meichun
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: Clinical Laboratory Center, Lu'an People's Hospital, The Lu'an Affiliated Hospital of Anhui Medical University, Lu'an 237005, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Shengfang
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Guang
authors.affiliation: Clinical Laboratory Center, Lu'an People's Hospital, The Lu'an Affiliated Hospital of Anhui Medical University, Lu'an 237005, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Rongrong
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Zhai
authors.affiliation: Clinical Laboratory Center, Lu'an People's Hospital, The Lu'an Affiliated Hospital of Anhui Medical University, Lu'an 237005, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Jie
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: Clinical Laboratory Center, Lu'an People's Hospital, The Lu'an Affiliated Hospital of Anhui Medical University, Lu'an 237005, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Hui
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Guang
authors.affiliation: Clinical Laboratory Center, Lu'an People's Hospital, The Lu'an Affiliated Hospital of Anhui Medical University, Lu'an 237005, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Dong
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.affiliation: Clinical Laboratory Center, Lu'an People's Hospital, The Lu'an Affiliated Hospital of Anhui Medical University, Lu'an 237005, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Benzhong
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: Clinical Laboratory Center, Lu'an People's Hospital, The Lu'an Affiliated Hospital of Anhui Medical University, Lu'an 237005, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Songtao
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Zhang
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D002681:China; D002947:Cities; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007854:Lead / Q000097:blood*; D016015:Logistic Models; D008297:Male; D015999:Multivariate Analysis; D010045:Outpatients; D015995:Prevalence; D014131:Trace Elements / Q000097:blood
chemical_list: D014131:Trace Elements; D007854:Lead
keywords: Adolescent; Blood; Children; Lead; Lead exposure