ABSTRACT
OBJECTIVE: Determination of lead content in blood (Pb-B) of young children in the Netherlands, to assess the influence on Pb-B of the ambient environment and to verify a surmised decrease of Pb-B. DESIGN: Cross-sectional study. SETTING: Centres and suburbs of Rotterdam and Amsterdam villages in the Geul Valley (Limburg), neighbourhoods in urban areas in Limburg and Flevoland. METHOD: Randomly selected children aged 1-6 years, residing for at least 2 months in the aforementioned areas, provided a venous blood sample, in which Pb-B was determined. RESULTS: Pb-B of 559 children investigated, varied from 20 micrograms/l through 224 micrograms/l and showed no clear association with age. Mean Pb-B of girls (48.5 micrograms/l) was slightly lower than that of boys (52.5 micrograms/l). Mean Pb-B was highest in children from the centre of Rotterdam, followed by that in children from the centre of Amsterdam, the suburbs of Rotterdam and Amsterdam, the Geul Valley and Lelystad, while children from Flevoland and the neighbourhoods in urban areas in Limburg had the lowest Pb-B. In children from the city centres Pb-B had decreased since 1979 by 62% (Amsterdam) and since 1981 by 52% (Rotterdam). In children from the suburbs of these cities these decreases amounted to 57% and 39% respectively. CONCLUSION: Pb-B of young children in the Netherlands has decreased to a mean of 64 micrograms/l in children from the city centres and to a mean of 45 micrograms/l in children living outside the city centres. Among the children from the inner cities, 2.7% had a Pb-B higher than 150 micrograms/l and 6.7% a Pb-B higher than 100 micrograms/l.
Subject(s)
Lead/blood , Child , Child, Preschool , Cohort Studies , Cross-Sectional Studies , Female , Humans , Infant , Male , Netherlands , Suburban Population , Surveys and Questionnaires , Urban PopulationABSTRACT
We determined the urinary 1-hydroxypyrene (1-HP) concentration and the creatinine-adjusted 1-HP concentration in 644 randomly selected Dutch children, aged 1-6 years and living in five areas with roughly different levels of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in soil and ambient air. The presence of other factors that might influence the exposure to PAHs was studied using a questionnaire. To evaluate the reliability of a single urinary 1-HP determination, measurements were repeated after 3 weeks for approximately 200 children. The mean urinary 1-HP content of the total study population was 2.06 nmol/l. This varied from 1.58 nmol/l in the reference area (Flevoland) to 2.71 nmol/l in the valley of the Geul. Only indoor sources of PAHs showed a small, positive association with urinary 1-HP. The urinary 1-HP concentrations of children from the valley of the Geul were higher (p < 0.01) and those of children from a suburb of Amsterdam were lower (p < 0.01) than those of children from the reference area. The possible ambient environment-related differences were probably too small to be detected in the variations of the intake of PAHs from the daily diet. The reliability of a single 1-HP measurement was low. Similar results were obtained with the creatinine-adjusted data. In one neighborhood built on coal-mine tailings, the urinary 1-HP content in children was weakly but positively associated with the PAH content in the upper soil layer of the garden of their homes. However, this association was not found for the children from the other neighborhood built on coal-mine tailings and with similar PAH levels in soil.
