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Correlates of bone and blood lead levels in carpenters
Author(s) -
Watanabe Hirokastsu,
Hu Howard,
Rotnitzky Andrea
Publication year - 1994
Publication title -
american journal of industrial medicine
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.7
H-Index - 104
eISSN - 1097-0274
pISSN - 0271-3586
DOI - 10.1002/ajim.4700260211
Subject(s) - medicine , lead (geology) , environmental health , geology , geomorphology
In the course of a health screening for construction carpenters, 127 subjects underwent blood lead testing, administration of detailed questionnaires, and in vivo measurement of bone lead levels with a 109 Cd K‐X‐ray fluorescence (K‐XRF) instrument. The mean age of subjects was 48.5 (SD = 9.8) years. Blood lead levels were low, with a mean of 8.2 (SD = 4.0) μg/dl. Bone lead levels had means of 9.8 (SD = 9.3) μg/g bone mineral for the tibia and 14.0 (SD = 13.8) μg/g bone mineral for the patella (which consist primarily of cortical bone and trabecular bone, respectively). In multivariate regression models, age was the dominant predictor of both tibia and patella bone lead, with years since last worked and welding/brazing contributing an additional small amount of influence over tibia bone lead, and carpet laying, paint stripping, and regular exercise contributing an additional small amount of influence over patella bone lead. Demolition, carpet laying, and alcohol ingestion were significant predictors of blood lead. We conclude that age is the most important predictor of bone lead levels among workers with intermittent exposures to lead; in addition, K‐XRF is useful in generating hypotheses on additional factors that may influence lead burden.