<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To explore the
dose-effect relationship between
lead exposure and
nerve conduction velocity, and to assess
risk characteristics of
nerve conduction velocity induced by
lead exposure.</p><p><b>
METHODS</b>The external
dose, internal
dose (
blood lead,
urine lead) and the conduction velocity of
peripheral nerve were examined. The
benchmark dose of a
population exposed to occupational
lead was estimated to develop
risk assessment of
nerve conduction velocity in
worker exposed to
lead by use of BMDS (version 1.3.3). The BMDL in terms of
blood lead and
urine lead was calculated.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>There was correlation between
blood lead and
urine lead. The sense
nerve conduction velocity was decreased significantly in the group of
lead exposure
workers (P < 0.05). The BMDLs-05 for
median nerve conduct velocity,
ulnar nerve conduction velocity, and superficial
peroneal nerve conduction velocity in terms of
blood lead were 456.99, 332.36 and 468.38 microg/L respectively; the BMDLs-05 in terms of
urine lead were 14.1, 9.2 and 13.6 microg/gCr respectively.</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>The internal
dose is the better index to reflect the level of
lead exposure.
Blood lead is identified as a specific and sensitive
biomarker for sense
nerve conduction velocity reduction.
Ulnar nerve conduction velocity can be used as highly sensitive
biomarkers to screen the high
risk population of
lead exposure.</p>