Association of dental enamel lead levels with risk factors for environmental exposure

Autor: Kelly Polido Kaneshiro Olympio, Juliana Naozuka, Pedro Vitoriano Oliveira, Maria Regina Alves Cardoso, Etelvino José Henriques Bechara, Wanda Maria Risso Günther
Jazyk: English<br />Spanish; Castilian<br />Portuguese
Rok vydání: 2010
Předmět:
Zdroj: Revista de Saúde Pública, Vol 44, Iss 5, Pp 851-858 (2010)
Druh dokumentu: article
ISSN: 0034-8910
DOI: 10.1590/S0034-89102010000500010
Popis: OBJECTIVE: To analyze household risk factors associated with high lead levels in surface dental enamel. METHODS: A cross-sectional study was conducted with 160 Brazilian adolescents aged 14-18 years living in poor neighborhoods in the city of Bauru, southeastern Brazil, from August to December 2008. Body lead concentrations were assessed in surface dental enamel acid-etch microbiopsies. Dental enamel lead levels were measured by graphite furnace atomic absorption spectrometry and phosphorus levels were measured by inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectrometry. The parents answered a questionnaire about their children's potential early (05 years old) exposure to well-known lead sources. Logistic regression was used to identify associations between dental enamel lead levels and each environmental risk factor studied. Social and familial covariables were included in the models. RESULTS: The results suggest that the adolescents studied were exposed to lead sources during their first years of life. Risk factors associated with high dental enamel lead levels were living in or close to a contaminated area (OR = 4.49; 95% CI: 1.69;11.97); and member of the household worked in the manufacturing of paints, paint pigments, ceramics or batteries (OR = 3.43; 95% CI: 1.31;9.00). Home-based use of lead-glazed ceramics, low-quality pirated toys, anticorrosive paint on gates and/or sale of used car batteries (OR = 1.31; 95% CI: 0.56;3.03) and smoking (OR = 1.66; 95% CI: 0.52;5.28) were not found to be associated with high dental enamel lead levels. CONCLUSIONS: Surface dental enamel can be used as a marker of past environmental exposure to lead and lead concentrations detected are associated to well-known sources of lead contamination.
Databáze: Directory of Open Access Journals