Lead Poisoning
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Headline

The percentage of children with elevated blood lead levels has decreased dramatically in the past three decades, from 88.2 percent in 1976-1980 to 1.6 percent in 1999-2002. (See Figure 1)

Importance

Heightened blood lead levels are harmful to developing nervous systems in fetuses and young children and, at extremely high levels, can lead to severe neurological problems such as seizures, comas, and death.¹ Lead can also cause learning disabilities, lowered intelligence or behavioral problems.² Although lead was banned from residential use in 1978, it remains an issue in houses built before the ban, and can also be found in environmental sources, such as soil and water.³ Because lead poisoning often occurs with no observable symptoms, it may go unrecognized, necessitating the need for regular blood lead level testing.⁴ Additionally, subtle damage can also occur at lower levels of exposure to lead.

Trends

Blood lead levels have decreased drastically in the past three decades. Between the periods 1976-1980 and 1999-2002, the percentage of children between the ages of one and five with elevated blood lead levels (defined as blood lead levels greater than or equal to ten micrograms per deciliter) fell from 88.2 percent to 1.6 percent. (See Figure 1) According to data compiled from an alternate data source,⁵ between 1997 and 2001, the percentage of children under age six with elevated blood lead levels fell by more than half from 7.7 percent to 3.1 percent. Reductions occurred across all racial and ethnic groups. (See Table 1)

Differences by Race and Ethnicity

Non-Hispanic black children are much more likely than other children to have elevated blood lead levels. In 2001, 8.7 percent of Non-Hispanic black children under age 6 had elevated blood lead levels compared with 5.6 percent of Hispanic children and 4.4 percent of Asian or Pacific Islander children under age six. Non-Hispanic black children are more than four times as likely as white or Native American children under age six to have elevated blood lead levels (8.7 percent compared with 2.0 and 1.5 percent, respectively). (See Figure 2)

Differences by Age

Lead poisoning also differs by age. Children between the ages of two and four years old are most likely to suffer from elevated blood lead levels (around four percent in 2001). Children under the age of one are the least likely to suffer from elevated blood lead levels, with less than one percent with elevated BLLs in 2001. (See Table 1)

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Related Indicators

None

State and Local Estimates

Selected state estimates for 1997 to 2001 are available for children under age 6 from Table 6 of the Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention at http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/PDF/ss/ss5210.pdf

International Estimates

None

National Goals

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' Healthy People 2010 aims to eliminate blood lead levels greater than or equal to ten µg/dL in children under 6 by 2010. The U.S. Public Health Service's Strategic Plan for the Elimination of Childhood Lead Poisoning plans to eliminate lead poisoning as a public health problem by 2011.
http://www.healthypeople.gov/document/html/objectives/08-11.htm

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What Works: Programs and Interventions that May Influence this Indicator

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Research References

¹Meyer, Pamela, Timothy Pivetz, Timothy Dignam, David Homa, Jaime Schoonover and Debra Brody. 2003. Surveillance for elevated blood lead levels among children- United States, 1997-2001. Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report: 52(SS-10). http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/PDF/SS/SS5210.pdf

²Federal Interagency Forum on Child and Family Statistics. America's Children: Key National Indicators of Well-Being. 1998. Federal Interagency Forum on Child and Family Statistics. Washington DC: US Government Printing Office. http://www.childstats.gov/ac1998/spectxt.asp

³United States Department of Health and Human Services, Public Health Service. 1997. "Screening Young Children for Lead Poisoning: Guidance for State and Local Public Health Officials." Atlanta: GA.
http://www.cdc.gov/nceh/lead/guide/guide97.htm

⁴Center for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Environmental Health. (2002). "Managing Elevated Blood Lead Levels Among Young Children: Recommendations from the Advisory
http://www.cdc.gov/nceh/lead/CaseManagement/caseManage_main.htm

⁵Single year-data from 1997-2001 are derived from compiled state estimates of blood lead levels and is therefore not directly comparable to estimates from 1976-1980, 1988-1991, 1991-1994, and 1999-2000, which were derived from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, NHANES.

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Definition

Elevated blood lead levels are defined as blood lead levels greater than or equal to 10 micrograms per deciliter (µg/dL) and are based on blood samples analyzed in laboratories.

Single year-data from 1997-2001 shown in Table 1 are derived from compiled state estimates of blood lead levels and are therefore not directly comparable to estimates from 1976-1980, 1988-1991, 1991-1994, and 1999-2002 shown in Figure 1, which were derived from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, NHANES.

Data Source

Data for 1999-2002: Department of Health and Human Services Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. 2005. Blood Lead Levels - United States, 1999-2002. Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report: 53 (20). http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/mm5420a5.htm

Raw Data Source

Data for total estimates for 1976-1980, 1988-1991, 1991-1994, and 1999-2000 from: National Health and Nutrition Examination Surveys. http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/about/major/nhanes/datalink.htm#NHANESIII

Approximate Date of Next Update

Unknown

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