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Lizbeth López-Carrillo,¹ Luisa Torres-Sánchez,¹ Francisco Garrido,¹ Joaquin Papaqui-Hernández,¹ Eduardo Palazuelos-Rendón,² and Malaquías López-Cervantes,¹

¹National Institute of Public Health, Cuernavaca, Mexico; ²American British Cowdray Hospital, Mexico City, Mexico

Abstract

This paper reports on the prevalence of lead poisoning in children between 1 and 5 years of age living in a marginal area to the north of Mexico City and also includes an evaluation of sources of exposure to this metal in the same area. The results show that 67.5% of the children studied have blood lead (PbB) levels 10 g/100 ml. Twenty-one percent of these children (1987) had PbB levels that required medical evaluation (20 g/100 ml-40 g/100 ml) , and 112 children needed medical treatment (PbB 40 g/100 ml) . In addition, the study found that the probability of higher blood lead levels (20 g/dl) corresponds to children whose mothers use lead-glazed pottery dishes (OR = 2.80 ; CI 95%, 1.55-5.07) and to children who habitually bite colored pencils (OR = 2.05 ; CI 95%, 1.13-3.71) compared, respectively, with children whose mothers do not use that type of dishes and children who do not bite pencils. Our results provide baseline information for estimating the impact and costs of population-based interventions aimed at these populations and also confirm the need to strengthen health education programs to promote the reduction of lead exposure in the general population. Key words: blood lead, children, environmental sources, epidemiology, Mexico, prevalence. Environ Health Perspect 104:1208-1211 (1996)

Address correspondence to M. López-Cervantes, Instituto Nacional de Salud Pública, Av. Universidad 655, Col. Sta. María Ahuacatitlán, C.P. 62508, Cuernavaca, Mor., Mexico.

The authors are grateful for the participation in field work by workers of the Health Institute of the State of México and to Noemi Lam and Maria Engracia Guillén for coordination and supervision of field work activities. We are grateful to Ilda Muñoz for training the field personnel in blood sample collection, and to Reina Collado and Betania Allen for editing and translating this document.

This study was supported by grants from the Maternal & Child Health Research Program (The Mexican Health Foundation/The Carnegie Foundation) , the Advisory Board in Epidemiology (The Rockefeller Foundation/Secretary of Health-Mexico) , and The American British Cowdray Hospital-Mexico.

Received 20 May 1996 ; accepted 26 July 1996.