RESUMO
OBJECTIVE: We evaluated the increases in blood lead levels (BLLs) observed in young children in Flint, Michigan, during their exposure to corrosive Flint River water during the years 2014 and 2015 and compared their BLLs to those of Flint children measured during the years 2006-2013 and 2016. STUDY DESIGN: This was a retrospective study design using BLLs extracted from databases from 2006 to 2016. We analyzed a population sample of 15 817 BLLs from children aged ≤5 years with potential exposure to contaminated Flint River water. Percentages of BLLs ≥5.0 µg/dL and geometric mean (GM) BLLs were analyzed over time. RESULTS: A significant decline in the percentages of BLLs ≥5.0 µg/dL from 11.8% in 2006 to 3.2% in 2016 was observed (P < .001). GM ± SE BLLs decreased from 2.33 ± 0.04 µg/dL in 2006 to 1.15 ± 0.02 µg/dL in 2016 (P < .001). GM BLLs increased twice: from 1.75 ± 0.03 µg/dL to 1.87 ± 0.03 µg/dL (2010-2011) and from 1.19 ± 0.02 µg/dL to 1.30 ± 0.02 µg/dL (2014-2015). Overall, from 2006 to 2016, there was a 72.9% decrease in the percentage of children with BLLs ≥5.0 µg/dL and a 50.6% decrease in GM BLLs. CONCLUSION: These findings suggest that the 11 year trend of annual decreases in BLLs in children in Flint, Michigan, reversed to a degree consistent with random variation from 2010 to 2011, and again during the exposure to Flint River water in 2014-2015. Historically, public health efforts to reduce BLLs of young children in Flint have been effective over the 11-year period studied.
Assuntos
Exposição Ambiental/estatística & dados numéricos , Intoxicação por Chumbo/sangue , Chumbo/sangue , Poluição Química da Água/estatística & dados numéricos , Pré-Escolar , Exposição Ambiental/efeitos adversos , Feminino , Humanos , Lactente , Intoxicação por Chumbo/epidemiologia , Masculino , Michigan/epidemiologia , Estudos Retrospectivos , Fatores de Risco , Poluição Química da Água/efeitos adversos , Abastecimento de ÁguaRESUMO
OBJECTIVES: To determine whether there are substantial differences by state between 2 large datasets in the proportion of children with elevated blood lead levels (BLLs); to identify states in which the percentage of elevated BLLs is high in either or both datasets; and to compare the percentage of elevated BLLs in individual states with those of children living in Flint, Michigan, during the months when these children were exposed to lead-contaminated drinking water. STUDY DESIGN: Tables of BLLs for individual states from the Quest Diagnostics and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention datasets for 2014-2015, containing more than 3 million BLLs of young children?6 years old, were constructed to compare the Quest Diagnostics and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data with one another and with BLLs available for Flint children for 2014-2015. RESULTS: For some states, the percentages of BLLs ?5.0?µg/dL are similar in the 2 datasets, whereas for other states, the datasets differ substantially in the percentage of BLLs ?5.0?µg/dL. The percentage of BLLs ?5.0?µg/dL is greater in some states in both datasets than observed in Flint when children were exposed to contaminated water. CONCLUSION: The data presented in this study can be a resource for pediatricians and public health professionals involved in the design of state programs to reduce lead exposure (primary prevention) and identify children with elevated BLLs (secondary prevention).