Effect of early lead exposure on the maturation of children's postural balance: a longitudinal study.

This prospective study investigated the impact of early exposure to lead on the maturation of children's postural balance. The effect of lead exposure on age-associated maturation of postural balance was investigated on 91 children from the Cincinnati Lead Study (CLS) with a 5-year geometric mean lead concentration in blood of 11.66 microg/dL (range 3.89-28.33 microg/dL) by re-assessing their postural balance approximately every 20 months starting at mean age of 6.6 years through mean age of 12.1 years. The results presented in this paper provide evidence that low to moderate lead exposure in early childhood has a measurable and statistically significant impact on the maturation of postural balance. In comparison to less exposed children, of those in the higher lead group showed an impaired postural balance response. The results from this study suggest that children with early childhood lead exposure may need additional time to approach (or "catch up" with) their maturational postural balance status. As these subjects are now adults in their early to mid-twenties, poor postural balance may impact their daily living tasks and pose a higher risk of potential injuries at home and work.