Association of selected social, environmental and constitutional factors to blood lead levels in men aged 55-75 years.

Blood lead (B-Pb) levels were determined in 1802 out of 1856 non-occupationally exposed men aged 55-75 years living in the Rome area who participated, between 1989 and 1990, in an epidemiological survey for coronary heart disease (New Risk Factors Project). The median B-Pb level was 113 micrograms/l (10th-90th centiles: 74-180 micrograms/l) and only 0.7 per cent (n = 14) of the subjects had B-Pb values higher than 300 micrograms/l. B-Pb levels were significantly and positively associated to alcohol consumption. Moderate and heavy drinkers had median B-Pb level of 143 micrograms/l (10th-90th centiles: 92-233) and 165 micrograms/l (10th-90th centiles: 102-285) respectively, whereas non-drinkers had a median B-Pb level of 96 micrograms/l (10th-90th centiles: 66-143). The influence of smoking habits was less relevant. Subjects who never smoked and subjects smoking more than 20 cigarettes daily had median B-Pb levels of 103 and 133 micrograms/l, respectively. Individuals classified as habitual car-drivers had slightly higher Pb levels than non-drivers. Subjects classified as manual workers had higher B-Pb levels in comparison with non-manual workers and retired subjects. B-Pb levels were directly related to HDL-cholesterol (HDL-C, r = 0.2252) and gamma-glutamyltransferase (gamma-GT, r = 0.2207) serum levels. The alleged alcohol consumption was more related to B-Pb level (r = 0.3848) than to serum level of HDL-C (r = 0.2474) or gamma-GT (r = 0.2469). A significant correlation (r = 0.2409) also existed between B-Pb and blood cadmium levels (B-Cd). Subjects with a low Gaensler ratio, an index of respiratory function, had higher B-Pb levels. In multiple regression analyses alcohol intake was the most important predictor of B-Pb level, explaining more (14.27%) of the total variance than did B-Cd (4.98%), HDL-C (1.89%), driving habits (1.46%), gamma-GT (1.09%), skinfold thickness (0.96%), and Gaensler index (0.38%). The risk ratio of having B-Pb level higher than 180 micrograms/l (90th centile of B-Pb distribution in our subjects) was 5.3 (95% CI: 2.7-10.4) for drinkers versus non-drinkers and 1.9 (95% CI: 1.2-3.1) for current smokers versus subjects who had never smoked. B-Pb was, at least in our subjects, a more specific and sensitive objective index of alcohol consumption than gamma-GT and HDL-C.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)