109Cd K x ray fluorescence measurements of tibial lead content in young adults exposed to lead in early childhood
Fiona E McNeilla, Lynette Stokesb, José A A Britoa c, David R Chettlea, Wendy E Kayeb
a Department of
Physics and Astronomy, McMaster University, 1280 Main Street West,
Hamilton, Ontario, Canada L8S 4K1, b Epidemiology and
Surveillance Branch, Division of Health Studies, Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention, Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease
Registry, Atlanta, Georgia, USA, c University of Lisbon, Lisbon, Portugal
Correspondence to: Dr Fiona E McNeill fmcneill{at}mcmaster.ca
Accepted 8 February
2000
OBJECTIVES
Tibia lead
measurements were performed in a population of 19-29 year old people
who had been highly exposed to lead in childhood to find whether lead
had persisted in the bone matrix until adulthood.
METHODS109Cd
K x ray fluorescence was used to measure the
tibia lead concentrations of 262 exposed subjects and 268 age and sex
matched controls. Questionnaire data allowed a years of residence index to be calculated for exposed subjects. A cumulative blood lead index
was calculated from the time weighted integration of available data of
blood lead.
RESULTSThe mean (SEM)
difference between exposed and control men was 4.51 (0.35) µg Pb/g
bone mineral, and between exposed and control women was 3.94 (0.61)
µg Pb/g bone mineral. Grouped mean bone lead concentrations of
exposed subjects were predicted best by age. When exposed and control
subjects' data were combined, grouped mean bone lead
concentrations were predicted best by
cumulative blood lead index. The years of residence index was neither a
good predictor of bone lead concentrations
for exposed subjects nor for exposed and control subjects combined.
Finally, exposed subjects had increased current blood lead
concentrations that correlated significantly with bone lead values.
CONCLUSIONBone lead
concentrations of exposed subjects were significantly increased
compared with those of control subjects. Lead from exposure in early
childhood had persisted in the bone matrix until adulthood. Exposed
subjects had increased blood lead concentrations compared with
controls. Some of this exposure could be related to ongoing exposure.
However, some of the increase in blood lead concentration in adult
exposed subjects seemed to be a result of endogenous exposure from
increased bone lead stores. The endogenous exposure relation found for
men was consistent with reported data, but the relation found for women
was significantly lower. Further research is needed to find whether the
observed differences are due to sex, or pregnancy and lactation.
Keywords: lead; environment; childhood
© 2000 by Occupational and Environmental Medicine
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This article has been cited by other articles:
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Hu, H., Hernandez-Avila, M.
(2002). Invited Commentary: Lead, Bones, Women, and Pregnancy--The Poison Within?. Am J Epidemiol
156: 1088-1091
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