Investigation on children's blood lead level in urban areas of Henan province

  Objective   To investigate the blood lead level of children and to identify related risk factors in the urban areas in Henan province.

  Methods   527 vein blood samples from preschool children in nine kindergarten of three cities of Henan province were sampled.Inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry(ICP-MS)were employed to determine lead level in whole level after microwave digestion for sample preparation and questionnare survey was also performed.A multi-variable linear regression was used to analyze the correlation between blood lead levels and risk factors.

  Results   Mean blood lead contents of 527 children were 135.5 μg/L, of which 426 children(80.83%)were found with a blood lead level≥100 μg/L, and mean blood lead level of boys(138.6μg/L)was higher than that of girls(132.1μg/L), mean blood lead level of children in industrial district was 149.4 μg/L, 120.3 μg/L in non-industrial district.It showed that the more near main lines of communication and pollutant source in resident district and kindergarten, the more higher in blood lead level.It had negative effects on children-physical growth, thought judgement and expression ability.

  Conclusion   Mean blood lead level of children in Henan province was significantly higher than that of adjacent province and Henan province was one of more serious areas.