Factors associated with blood lead concentrations of children in Jamaica

Abstract

Lead is a heavy metal known to be detrimental to neurologic, physiologic, and behavioral health of children. Previous studies from Jamaica reported that mean lead levels in soil are four times that of lead levels in some other parts of the world. Other studies detected lead levels in fruits and root vegetables, which were grown in areas with lead contaminated soil. In this study, we investigate environmental factors associated with blood lead concentrations in Jamaican children. The participants in this study comprised 125 typically developing (TD) children (ages 2–8 years) who served as controls in an age- and sex-matched case-control study that enrolled children from 2009–2012 in Jamaica. We administered a questionnaire to assess demographic and socioeconomic information as well as potential exposures to lead through food. Using General Linear Models (GLMs), we identified factors associated with blood lead concentrations in Jamaican children. The geometric mean blood lead concentration (GMBLC) in the sample of children in this study was 2.80 μg dL⁻¹. In univariable GLM analyses, GMBLC was higher for children whose parents did not have education beyond high school compared to those whose parents had attained this level (3.00 μg dL⁻¹ vs. 2.31 μg dL⁻¹; P = 0.05), children living near a high traffic road compared to those who did not (3.43 μg dL⁻¹ vs. 2.52 μg dL⁻¹; P < 0.01), and children who reported eating ackee compared to those who did not eat this fruit (2.89 μg dL⁻¹ vs. 1.65 μg dL⁻¹; P < 0.05). In multivariable analysis, living near a high traffic road was identified as an independent risk factor for higher adjusted GMBLC (3.05 μg dL⁻¹ vs. 2.19 μg dL⁻¹; P = 0.01). While our findings indicate that GMBLC in Jamaican children has dropped by at least 62% during the past two decades, children living in Jamaica still have GMBLC that is twice that of children in more developed countries. In addition, we have identified significant risk factors for higher blood lead concentrations in Jamaican children. We believe increasing awareness among parents regarding these risk factors could potentially lead to a lower level of lead exposure in Jamaican children.

Keywords:

• Children
• food
• Jamaica
• lead
• risk factors
• road traffic

Acknowledgments

We acknowledge contributions by colleagues in the Trace Metals Lab at MDCH for analyzing and storing the blood samples for assessments of lead concentrations.

Funding

This research is co-funded by the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) and the National Institutes of Health Fogarty International Center (NIH-FIC) by a grant (R21HD057808) as well as National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS) by a grant (R01ES022165) awarded to University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston. We also acknowledge the support provided by the Biostatistics/ Epidemiology/ Research Design (BERD) component of the Center for Clinical and Translational Sciences (CCTS) for this project. CCTS is mainly funded by the NIH Centers for Translational Science Award (NIH CTSA) grant (UL1 RR024148), awarded to University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston in 2006 by the National Center for Research Resources (NCRR) and its renewal (UL1 TR000371) by the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences (NCATS). The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the NICHD or the NIH-FIC or NIEHS or the NCRR or the NCATS.