Department of Quantitative Theory and Methods, Emory University, Atlanta, GA, 30322, USA.
Department of Epidemiology, School of Public Health, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA.
Sci Rep. 2020 Oct 22;10(1):18087. doi: 10.1038/s41598-020-75000-0.
Lead poisoning is often seen as a problem of the past. While acute cases are now rare, there is no known safe level of lead for children and blood lead levels at and below 5 μg/dL are associated with neurological deficits. Previous work has established that risk factors for lead exposure include race/ethnicity, poverty, Medicaid enrollment, housing built before 1950, and age. Efficient blood lead screening is crucial in the greater Atlanta area as pockets of poverty and old housing put some children at particularly high risk for chronic exposure to low levels of lead. Here, 20 years of data on children's blood lead levels in Georgia were used to create maps to assess the spatial distribution of blood lead screening and blood lead levels in the Atlanta area. ZIP code tabulation area (ZCTA)-level screening rates continue to be associated with relative poverty but not with housing age, a well-established risk factor for lead exposure. Building on previous research, a priority screening index based on poverty and housing age was also created to identify specific high-risk census tracts for screening within Atlanta ZCTAs. This index shows a total of 18 highest-priority census tracts in the greater Atlanta area. Together, these 18 tracts contain 2715 children under six years old, 1.7% of all children under six years old in the entire greater Atlanta area.
铅中毒通常被视为过去的问题。虽然现在急性病例较为罕见，但儿童的铅暴露量没有已知的安全水平，而血铅水平在 5μg/dL 及以下与神经功能缺陷有关。先前的研究已经确定了铅暴露的风险因素，包括种族/民族、贫困、医疗补助计划（Medicaid）的参与、1950 年前建造的住房以及年龄。在亚特兰大地区，高效的血液铅筛查至关重要，因为贫困地区和老旧住房使一些儿童面临慢性接触低水平铅的特别高风险。在这里，利用 20 年来佐治亚州儿童血液铅水平的数据，创建了地图来评估亚特兰大地区的血液铅筛查和血铅水平的空间分布。邮政编码区（ZCTA）层面的筛查率继续与相对贫困相关，但与住房年龄无关，而住房年龄是铅暴露的一个既定风险因素。在前一项研究的基础上，还创建了一个基于贫困和住房年龄的优先筛查指数，以确定亚特兰大 ZCTA 内的特定高风险普查地段进行筛查。该指数共显示了佐治亚州亚特兰大地区内 18 个高优先级的普查地段。这 18 个地段共包含 2715 名 6 岁以下儿童，占整个亚特兰大地区所有 6 岁以下儿童的 1.7%。
