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Risk factors
By Mayo Clinic staffPeople most at risk of harmful effects from lead in their body include:
- Babies and children under 6 years of age. Infants and young children are more likely to be exposed to lead than are older children. They may chew paint chips, and their hands may be contaminated with lead dust. Young children also absorb lead more easily and sustain more harm from it than do adults and older children.
- Children living in older homes. Although the use of lead-based paints has been banned since the 1970s, older homes and buildings often retain remnants of this paint.
- Children living below the poverty level. Although any child can be exposed to lead, children from low-income families are disproportionately affected, often because they live in older or unrenovated housing. Nonwhite children tend to have higher rates of lead poisoning.
- People with lead amalgams in their teeth. Although lead is no longer used to fill cavities in children's teeth, some adults may still have these fillings.
- Pregnant women. Because lead can harm an unborn child, pregnant women or women likely to become pregnant are especially at risk.
- Certain adults. Adults who breathe in lead dust while remodeling a home, making stained glass or refinishing furniture are also at risk.
Progress reducing lead poisoning
Public health efforts have helped to decrease the percentage of children with elevated blood lead levels from more than 4 percent in the early 1990s to less than 2 percent among children ages 1 to 5 today.
- CDC's Third National Report on Human Exposure to Environmental Chemicals: Spotlight on Lead. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. www.cdc.gov/exposurereport/pdf/factsheet_lead.pdf. Accessed Jan. 17, 2009.
- ToxFAQs for lead. Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry. http://www.atsdr.cdc.gov/tfacts13.html#bookmark05. Accessed Jan. 17, 2008.
- Goldman RH, et al. Adult lead poisoning. http://www.uptodate.com/home/index.html. Accessed Jan. 19, 2008.
- HUD sets new requirements to prevent childhood lead poisoning in housing assisted or being sold by the federal government. U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. http://nhl.gov/offices/lead/library/enforcement/1012fs.pdf. Accessed Jan. 23, 2009.
- General lead information: Questions and answers. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. http://www.cdc.gov/nceh/lead/faq/about.htm. Accessed Jan. 23, 2009.
- Protect your family from lead in your home. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. http://www.cpsc.gov/cpscpub/pubs/426.pdf. Accessed Jan. 23, 2009.
