Reis M Fátima, Sampaio Carla, Brantes Ana, Aniceto P, Melim M, Cardoso Liliana, Gabriel Cátia, Simão Filipa, Miguel J Pereira
Institute of Preventive Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, University of Lisbon, Av. Prof. Egas Moniz, Piso 0, Ala C, 1649-028 Lisbon, Portugal.
Int J Hyg Environ Health. 2007 May;210(3-4):455-9. doi: 10.1016/j.ijheh.2007.01.021. Epub 2007 Mar 1.
As a part of environmental health surveillance programs related to Portuguese solid waste incinerators (SWI), two biomonitoring projects have been established to investigate additional exposure to lead in children under the age of 6 years living in the vicinity of those facilities. The above-mentioned programs, being the only ones in the country that integrate systematic observations on human exposure to heavy metals, have to provide systematic data from Portuguese regions on the extent and pattern of human exposure to heavy metals, namely to lead. The present paper is the third of a series of papers prepared to accomplish that objective in regards to lead exposure as evaluated by measuring lead levels in children under the age of 6 years. Altogether, 250 children from Lisbon and 247 from Madeira Island have already been involved in the investigation. The present study evaluates spatial and temporal trends of lead exposure, based on comparisons of children's blood lead levels, either stratified by living area (exposed and control groups), or by time of exposure (T0, the baseline time, and T1, after approximately 2 years of regular operation of the facilities). The results obtained correspond to a relatively reduced number of individuals. Possibly for this reason, they are not fully conclusive in relation to whether living in the vicinity of SWI represents an additional risk of higher exposure to lead. Time trends of lead exposure as evaluated by blood lead levels in children also do not show any clear pattern. These conclusions and the fact that altogether around 3% of children from the whole group have blood lead levels >or=10 microg/dl warrant further investigation in order to clarify the contribution of incinerator emissions to the levels of lead in children and to identify alternative sources for preventive purposes, taking into consideration the relevance of even low lead exposure from a public health perspective, mainly in relation to children.
作为葡萄牙固体废物焚烧炉（SWI）相关环境卫生监测项目的一部分，已开展了两个生物监测项目，以调查居住在这些设施附近的6岁以下儿童额外的铅暴露情况。上述项目是该国唯一整合了对人类重金属暴露进行系统观测的项目，必须提供葡萄牙各地区关于人类重金属暴露程度和模式（即铅暴露）的系统数据。本文是为实现这一目标而编写的系列论文中的第三篇，该目标是通过测量6岁以下儿童的铅水平来评估铅暴露情况。里斯本的250名儿童和马德拉岛的247名儿童已参与了调查。本研究基于对儿童血铅水平的比较，评估铅暴露的空间和时间趋势，比较时按居住区域（暴露组和对照组）分层，或按暴露时间（T0，基线时间，以及T1，设施正常运行约2年后）分层。获得的结果对应的个体数量相对较少。可能正因如此，关于居住在SWI附近是否代表更高铅暴露的额外风险，结果并不完全具有决定性。通过儿童血铅水平评估的铅暴露时间趋势也未显示出任何明显模式。这些结论以及整个组中约3%的儿童血铅水平≥10微克/分升这一事实，有必要进一步调查，以阐明焚烧炉排放对儿童铅水平的影响，并确定预防性目的的替代来源，同时考虑到即使是低水平铅暴露从公共卫生角度（主要针对儿童）的相关性。
