Chapter 10 - The Environmental Epidemiology of Human Lead Exposure

Abstract

Publisher Summary This chapter presents epidemiological studies of human lead (Pb) exposure using biomarkers of such exposure. These studies deal with various parameters and correlates of human Pb exposure from demographic and environmental measurements. The chapter recapitulates information on United States' and other populations' Pb exposures as they were noted in earlier decades, beginning in the 1960s and 1970s. It examines the prevalence of distributions of measured biomarkers of Pb exposure. Prevalence and distribution data include their statistical design for the various reported surveys and screenings. Surveys are typically structured to be both maximally representative of Pb exposures and representative in large geographic, socioeconomic, and demographic dimensions. The chapter discusses inferential statistical analyses where the epidemiology is of two types: (1) exposure biomarkers, such as blood Pb studied for links to environmental sources and pathways, and (2) studies to ascertain Pb-containing media that may be significant contributors to toxic exposures and toxicity in human populations. National exposure surveys discussed in the chapter include demographic and socioeconomic snapshots of the prevalences and incidences of biomarkers of Pb exposures with reference to distributions of measured biomarkers of Pb exposure and their variation, gathered by intensive measurement efforts stratified along multiple socioeconomic and demographic lines.