Blood Lead Concentrations and Mortality in Korean Adults

Abstract

PDS 63: Chemicals and metals: health effects, Exhibition Hall (PDS), Ground floor, August 27, 2019, 10:30 AM - 12:00 PM Background/Aim: Previous studies have reported an increased risk of mortality at high blood lead level. In Korea, the association between blood lead and mortality has not been investigated. While food is the major source of human exposure to lead and dietary pattern can be related to health, to best our knowledge, none of the previous studies have considered food intake as a potential confounder. Thus, we aimed to examine the association of mortality with blood lead for Korean adults considering lead-contaminated food intake. Methods: From 2008-2013 KNHANES-linked mortality data which are followed through December 2016, we used 7,939 participants (46,990 person-years) who aged over 30 at the time of examination. We estimated the relative hazard of mortality from all-cause, circulatory diseases, and cancer through Cox-proportional hazard regression adjusted for potential confounders. Intake of grains, vegetables, and seafood calculated from dietary 24hr-recall data was additionally adjusted. Results: Blood lead levels tended to increase as intake of grains, vegetables, and seafood increased. The natural log unit increase of blood lead levels was associated with an increase of all-cause (HR: 1.67, 95% CI: 1.11-2.53), circulatory diseases (HR: 2.84, 95% CI: 1.13-7.13), and cancer (HR: 1.77, 95% CI: 1.02, 3.08) mortality. Further adjustment of lead-contaminated food intake slightly increased the magnitude of the associations: all-cause (HR: 1.72, 95% CI: 1.14-2.60); circulatory diseases (HR: 3.02, 95% CI: 1.25-7.29); cancer (HR: 1.74, 95% CI: 0.98, 3.10). Conclusions: We found that blood lead concentration was significantly associated with mortality in a representative sample of Korean adults, which is consistent results with previous studies. Lead-contaminated food intake is suspected to be a negative confounder as high consumption of grains, vegetables, and seafood is likely to be associated with a reduction in mortality.