Authors: Ram B Jain
Publish Date: 2016/01/13
Volume: 23, Issue: 8, Pages: 7880-7889
Abstract
Using data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey for the period 2003–2012 the objective of this study was to evaluate trends in blood lead levels BLL among children aged 1–5 and 6–11 years and smoker and nonsmoker adolescents aged 12–19 years Regression models with log10 transformed values of BLLs as dependent variable were fitted to evaluate how gender race/ethnicity smoking and exposure to secondhand smoke at home affect BLLs Irrespective of age gender and race/ethnicity BLLs declined over the study period p ≤ 001 Overall adjusted BLLs declined by 000114 μg/dL for every 2 years Children aged 1–5 years had about 50 higher BLLs than smoker adolescents about 75 higher BLLs than nonsmoker adolescents and about 45 higher BLLs than children aged 6–11 years While overall children aged 1–5 years with BLL ≥ 5 μg/dL made up 324 78 nonHispanic Black children aged 1–5 years had BLL ≥ 5 μg/dL Males were found to have higher adjusted BLLs than females and nonHispanic Blacks were found to have higher adjusted BLLs than nonHispanic Whites Higher poverty income ratio was associated with lower adjusted BLLs β = −002916 p 001 Children living in owneroccupied homes had lower adjusted BLLs than children living in renteroccupied homes BLLs increased with increase in number of smokers smoking inside the home β = 002496 p = 002 In conclusion while BLLs have declined for all age groups genders and races/ethnicities certain races/ethnicities like nonHispanic Blacks continue to have substantially higher BLLs than nonHispanic Whites
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