Global Temporal Trends in Preschool Children Blood Lead Levels by UN Human Development Index

摘要

This study was aimed at examining the global temporal trends in the preschool children blood lead levels by the category of UN Human Development Index (HDI). Blood lead records were obtained from 51 articles searched from PubMed and Google Scholar, with study subjects aged up to 8 years old. In total, 103 blood lead records retrieved from the reviewed articles were employed to plot chronologically by HDI category. The reciprocals of these blood lead records were used in regression analysis against calendar year to establish the global temporal trends in the past 30 years. It is shown that the modes of preschool children blood lead level decreased from 5-7 ug/dL to 0.7-1.6 ug/dL, from 6-13 ug/dL to 3-7 ug/dL and from 13-16 to 5-7 ug/dL, respectively, for the very high HDI countries, the high HDI countries and the medium/low HDI countries. High correlations were found between the reciprocals of preschool children blood lead level and the calendar year, with correlations coefficients of 0.863, 0.696, 0.779, respectively, for the very high HDI countries, the high HDI countries and the medium/low HDI countries. However, there were persistent differences in blood lead level among countries of different HDI category, which implied the effects of disparities and inequalities at the state level on blood lead levels. To further reduce children's exposure to environmental lead should base upon the efforts on (1) identification of individual local factors for lead exposure and (2) averting health disparity and inequalities at the state level.