| Geographic Analysis of Blood Lead Levels in New York State Children Born 1994-1997 Valerie B. Haley and Thomas O. Talbot Bureau of Environmental and Occupational Epidemiology, New York State Department of Health, Troy, New York, USA Abstract
We examined the geographic distribution of the blood lead levels (BLLs) of 677,112 children born between 1994 and 1997 in New York State and screened before 2 years of age. Five percent of the children screened had BLLs higher than the current Centers for Disease Control and Prevention action level of 10 µg/dL. Rates were higher in upstate cities than in the New York City area. We modeled the relationship between BLLs and housing and socioeconomic characteristics at the ZIP code level. Older housing stock, a lower proportion of high school graduates, and a higher percentage of births to African-American mothers were the community characteristics most associated with elevated BLLs. Although the prevalence of children with elevated BLLs declined 44% between those born in 1994 and those born in 1997, the rate of improvement may be slowing down. Lead remains an environmental health problem in inner-city neighborhoods, particularly in upstate New York. We identified areas having a high prevalence of children with elevated BLLs. These communities can be targeted for educational and remediation programs. The model locates areas with a higher or lower prevalence of elevated BLLs than expected. These communities can be studied further at the individual level to better characterize the factors that contribute to these differences. Key words: geographic information systems, housing, lead poisoning, New York State, simultaneous autoregression, socioeconomic status, spatial autocorrelation. Environ Health Perspect 112:1577-1582 (2004) . doi:10.1289/ehp.7053 available via http://dx.doi.org/ [Online 18 August 2004]
Address correspondence to V. Haley, Bureau of Environmental and Occupational Epidemiology, New York State Department of Health, 547 River St., Room 200, Troy, NY 12180-2216 USA. Telephone: (518) 402-7990. Fax: (518) 402-7959. E-mail: vbh03@health.state.ny.us We thank A. Iasonos, S. Forand, J. Bowers, J. Camadine, and F. Boscoe for their help managing and mapping the data. The authors declare they have no competing financial interests. Received 24 February 2004 ; accepted 18 August 2004.
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