Environmental lead levels related to increased death.Blood lead levels currently thought to be safe by the U.S. government, the World Health Organization, and many other authorities are associated with an increased risk of heart attack and stroke, according to a study conducted by researchers from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health The Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health is part of Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland, U.S. It was the first institution of its kind in the world. Founded in 1916 by William H. Welch and John D. and Tulane University. Results from the study were published in the online version of Circulation: Journal of the American Heart Association American Heart Association (AHA), n.pr a national voluntary health agency that has the goal of increasing public and medical awareness of cardiovascular diseases and stroke, and thereby reducing the number of associated deaths and disabilities. . They demonstrate that environmental lead exposure remains a major public health problem in the United States. The researchers evaluated the association between blood lead levels and mortality in 13,946 adult study participants who were part of the Third National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. Initially recruited in 1988 to 1994, the participants were followed for up to 12 years. The mean blood lead level was 2.58 [micro]g/dL, which is well below levels currently considered safe by the U.S. government. Blood lead levels above 2 [micro]g/dL were associated with an increased risk of heart attack and stroke mortality. "We saw an increased risk of death from all causes and cardiovascular death in all subgroups--non-Hispanic whites, non-Hispanic blacks, and Mexican Americans," said Eliseo Guallar, M.D., Dr.P.H., co-author of the study and an associate professor in the Department of Epidemiology at the Bloomberg School of Public Health. Exposure of the U.S. population continues to come from old lead-based paint and the residues of automobile emissions from the decades of lead use in gasoline; the residues remain in dusts and soil. Some adults may also be exposed in their place of work. Drinking water drinking water supply of water available to animals for drinking supplied via nipples, in troughs, dams, ponds and larger natural water sources; an insufficient supply leads to dehydration; it can be the source of infection, e.g. leptospirosis, salmonellosis, or of poisoning, e.g. can be a source of lead exposure because of lead pipes and solders. Unsafe consumer products, such as folk medicines, cosmetics, and toys, may also contain lead. The U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), U.S. agency established (1970) in the Dept. of Labor (see Labor, United States Department of) to develop and enforce regulations for the safety and health of workers in businesses that are engaged in interstate defines high blood lead in adults as higher than 40 [micro]g/dL. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), agency of the U.S. Public Health Service since 1973, with headquarters in Atlanta; it was established in 1946 as the Communicable Disease Center. recommend that women of childbearing age keep blood lead levels below 10 [micro]g/dL. "In our data, the association of blood lead with cardiovascular mortality was evident at levels as low as 2 [micro]g/dL. As 38 percent of U.S. adults had lead levels above 2 [micro]g/dL, the public health implications of these findings are substantial," said Paul Muntner, Ph.D., corresponding author of the study and an associate professor at Tulane University's School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine tropical medicine, study, diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of certain diseases prevalent in the tropics. The warmth and humidity of the tropics and the often unsanitary conditions under which so many people in those areas live contribute to the development and . "Blood Lead Below 0.48 [micro]mol/L (10 [micro]g/dL) and Mortality Among U.S. Adults" was co-authored by Andy Menke, Paul Muntner, Vecihi Batuman, Ellen K. Silbergeld, and Eliseo Guallar. The study was supported by a National Institutes of Health grant from the COBRE COBRE Center of Biological Research Excellence Program of the National Center for Research Resources The National Center for Research Resources or NCRR, is a United States government agency. NCRR provides funding to laboratory scientists and researchers for facilities and tools in the goal of curing and treating diseases. . |
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