Study of Lead Absorption and Its Effect on Children’s Development

Blood lead levels of 180 pupils from two elementary schools were determined and the intellec-tual development of the children was followed.The children in these two groups were similarin most nonlead variables.Results showed that pupils at the school near a battery plant hadhigher blood lead levels than those at a school in a residential neighborhood.An evident dose-effect relationship between blood lead level and children’s performance on psychological testingexisted:the higher the blood level,the lower the intelligence quotient.This relationship re-mained after confounding factors were controlled by stepwise regression analysis.Partial regres-sion coefficients for PbB and verbal IQ,performance IQ,and full-scale IQ were -0.85,-0.71,and -0.91,respectively.1989 Academic Press,Inc.