Supplementary Files
Keywords
children
alteration of cognitive functions
How to Cite
Abstract
Background: Lead affects the behavioral and cognitive functions of children. The current lead safety level for avoiding these adverse effects is still controversial.
Methods of study: A cross-sectional study included 511 children from 23 primary schools within the Comunidad de Madrid (the Madrid Region –including the city of Madrid and the large urban-industrial conurbation of satellite towns surrounding it), Spain. The children’s blood lead levels were determined by atomic absorption spectrophotometry. In addition, the teachers completed an eight-item questionnaire about the children’s behavior and academic achievement. Parents filled in a self-completion survey about the sociodemographic variables of the children and the family.
Results: The mean Blood Lead Level (BLL) of the children was 4.1 μg/dL SD 1.6 μg/dL (log transformed 3.8 μg/dL SD 0.2 μg/dL). Multivariate analysis controlling for relevant sociodemographic cofactors (among others, sex, age and educational level of the parents) showed a negative association, but this was not statistically significant.
Conclusions: Despite the low blood lead levels found in the children of the Comunidad de Madrid (Spain) and the design limitations of the study, the results obtained suggest the existence of a harmful, but not statistically significant, effect of blood lead on the behavior and academic achievement of children.
The articles published in this journal are subject to the following terms and conditions:
- The journal retains copyright of the articles published, and encourages and permits their reuse under the licence indicated at point 2.
- The articles are published in the online edition of the journal under licence Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial 4.0 (CC BY-NC 4.0). They can be copied, used, disseminated, transmitted, and publicly displayed, providing that the authorship, URL address and the Journal are cited, and that no commercial use is made of them.
- The authors agree with terms of licence use of the journal, with the self-archiving conditions and with the open access policy.
- In the event of reuse of the articles published, the existence and specifications of the terms of licence use must be mentioned, in addition to citing the authorship and original source of the their publication.