Abstract
Previous studies have consistently reported an increase in mortality risk, even at low levels of blood lead. The average blood lead concentration in the Korean population has steadily decreased but is still higher than that of developed countries. The purpose of this study was to examine the associations between mortality and blood lead concentrations for adults in Korea. We used the Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (2008–2013) linked Cause of Death data, which are followed by 2018. A total of 7308 subjects who aged over 30 at the baseline examination were included in the analyses. Cox proportional hazard model was used to estimate the hazard ratios of mortality from non-accidental causes and cancer mortality. The estimated hazard ratios (95% CI) for comparison of the second and third tertile group with the lowest tertile group were 2.01 (1.20, 3.40) and 1.91 (1.13, 3.23) for non-accidental mortality and 3.42 (95% CI: 1.65, 7.08) and 2.27 (95% CI: 1.09, 4.70) for cancer mortality, respectively. The dose–response relationship also showed significant increase in the risk of mortality at blood lead level between 1.5 and 6.0 μg/dL. Our findings suggest that potent policies to lower lead exposure are required for the general Korean population.
Highlights
Lead, a toxic heavy metal found throughout the environment, is known to have various health effects when exposed to the human body
We aimed to examine the associations of blood lead levels (BLLs) with risk of death for Korean adults, considering dietary lead exposure as a potential confounder
In Model 2, where basic confounders were adjusted, hazard ratios (HRs) for the 2nd and 3rd tertile versus the lowest tertile were 2.01 and 1.91 for non-accidental mortality and 3.42 and 2.27 for cancer mortality, respectively
Summary
A toxic heavy metal found throughout the environment, is known to have various health effects when exposed to the human body. U.S National Health and Nutrition Examination Surveys (NHANES) have reported increased risk in mortality from all causes, circulatory diseases, or cancer at relatively low levels of blood lead [2,3,4,5,6,7,8]. For these reasons, lead is still an important public health concern, even though the lead exposures have decreased sharply over recent decades, thanks to the leaded gasoline regulation in developed countries including the United States
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