Surveillance of childhood blood lead levels in 11 cities of China
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Surveillance of childhood blood lead levels in 11 cities of China Tao Li, Yao-Hua Dai, Xiao-Hua Xie, Zang-Wen Tan, Shuai-Ming Zhang, Zong-Han Zhu Beijing, China
Methods: We studied 12 693 children aged 0-6 years in 2004 and 11 255 children aged 0-6 years in 2010. We evaluated the average BLLs and the prevalence of EBLLs, and a multivariate logistic regression model was used to estimate predictors of EBLLs. Results: The geometric mean BLLs of children aged 0-6 years dropped by 16% (from 46.38±2.10 μg/L in 2004 to 38.95±1.83 μg/L in 2010), while the prevalence of EBLLs dropped by 87% (from 9.78% in 2004 to 1.32% in 2010). In a multivariate analysis, the following factors were associated with EBLLs: (1) children being cared for at home or at a boarding nursery (compared to children being cared for in a day nursery), (2) children having fathers with a lower education level, and (3) children often eating popcorn and chewing fingernails or sucking fingers were associated with EBLLs. Conclusions: The results of this study demonstrated a substantial decline in BLLs from 2004 to 2010 among Chinese children 0-6 years living in cities. However, these levels were higher than levels in countries, such as the USA, Canada, Japan and Sweden. These data
Author Affiliations: Department of Integrated Early Childhood Development Capital Institute of Pediatrics, Beijing, China (Li T, Dai YH, Xie XH, Tan ZW, Zhang SM); Chinese Pediatrician Association, Beijing, China (Zhu ZH) Corresponding Author: Yao-Hua Dai, Department of Integrated Early Childhood Development, Capital Institute of Pediatrics, 2 Ya Bao Road, Chaoyang District, Beijing 100020, China (Tel: 8610 85636169; Fax: 8610 85622025; Email: [email protected]) doi: 10.1007/s12519-014-0452-6 ©Children's Hospital, Zhejiang University School of Medicine, China and Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2014. All rights reserved.
demonstrate that Chinese children's lead exposure remains a public health problem that requires additional effort and resources. World J Pediatr 2014;10(1):29-37 Key words: child; gasoline; lead; surveillance
Introduction
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or more than 100 years, exposure to lead has been known to be harmful to children's health. Many human activities such as burning fossil fuels, painting walls, using leaded petrol, drinking from leaded water pipes, smelting, and especially industry manufacturing processes, are associated with lead exposure.[1] Children, for whom are still developing, are especially vulnerable to the adverse effects of lead. [2] The USA Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) established the Childhood Lead Poisoning Prevention Program to eliminate childhood lead poisoning in the USA.[3] Nationally representative data about USA children's blood lead values have been available every year since 1997. However, although China has a large child population, national representative data on childhood lead levels in China have been lacking. All previous studies among Chinese children were conducted either in a special region such as a polluted area or had smal
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