Investigating the Relationship between Home Dust Lead and Children s Blood Levels

Introduction:Lead is one of the most durable and widely used heavy metals and is one of the environmental pollutants. Lead Poisoning is one of the most important health problems in all ages, especially in children. One of the most common ways of lead poisoning in children is indoor dust.Methods:In this descriptive-analytical study, Thirty children were selected from the 200 children referred to the gastrointestinal clinic of Mofid and Loghman hospitals due to abdominal pain or constipation or control group with Abnormal blood lead levels and higher than 5 μg/dl were included in the study. The control group was selected from the children referred for outpatient surgery and their blood lead level was measured. Parents of children participating in the study signed a consent form before completing the study and completed a questionnaire on demographic information, child habits, and conditions of residence. In order to investigate the internal dust of children s homes, the children s home was visited and the internal dust sampling was done. Lead content of dust samples was measured by graphite atomic absorption spectrophotometer. After determining the dust lead level of the samples, the relationship between this parameter and blood lead level of the studied children was analyzed and SPSS software was used for data analysis.Result:Data analysis showed that the relationship between children s blood lead level with age, gender, weight, height, living status in recent months, age home, pica history, painting in recent months, residence in recent months, recent home remodeling had no significant relationship (p <0.05).There was a significant relationship between childern s blood lead level and father s occupation (P <0.05).There was also a significant relationship between childern s blood lead level and dust lead level at the interior windows (p <0.05).Discussion & Conclusion:Lead is a potent penetrant that can enter the body through inhalation, oral, skin, and interfere with many body processes and has a direct toxic effect on organs and tissues of the body. Due to the acute problems and the persistent complications of lead poisoning in children, extensive studies of lead sources, dust control at home, and parent education can prevent the high prevalence of lead contamination.

کلیدواژه ها:

Blood Lead Level ، Lead ، Dust ، Poisoning