Department of Environmental Science, School of Geography and Tourism, Shaanxi Normal University, Xi'an, Shaanxi 710062, PR China; International Joint Research Centre of Shaanxi Province for Pollutant Exposure and Eco-environmental Health, Xi'an, Shaanxi 710062, PR China.
Department of Environmental Science, School of Geography and Tourism, Shaanxi Normal University, Xi'an, Shaanxi 710062, PR China; International Joint Research Centre of Shaanxi Province for Pollutant Exposure and Eco-environmental Health, Xi'an, Shaanxi 710062, PR China; Environmental Research Group, School of Public Health, Imperial College London, 80 Wood Lane, London W12 0BZ, UK.
Sci Total Environ. 2023 Jul 15;882:163383. doi: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2023.163383. Epub 2023 Apr 15.
Lead (Pb) is a neurotoxic metal, and no level of lead exposure is safe for children. China has still experienced problems on child lead poisoning even though the Chinese government has phased out leaded gasoline since 2000. The underlying problem affecting the lead pollution-related health of children in China remains to be comprehensively investigated. It is found that although the significant decline of BLLs, as the Geometric Mean (GM), from 91.40 μg/L in 2001 to 37.52 μg/L in 2018 is observed, the average BLLs of children are still above 50 μg/L or more [average 59.70 (60.50-65.02, 95 % CI) μg/L] after phasing out leaded gasoline since 2000 in China. Lead exposure causes 29.67 MID per 1000 children with a loss of 98.23 (59.40-146.21, 95 % CI) DALYs per 1000 in China, which is greater than the levels reported from the Western Pacific Region and other low- and middle-income countries. A significant correlation is observed between the number of child crimes (NoCCs) and the outcomes of long-term lead exposure for children in China. Although the disparities in BLLs in China are strongly influenced by unequal distributions of potential multi-lead related sources (soil lead, PM2.5 lead, dust lead), unbalance development of local industrialization and economies, as well as incorrect health care for younger children, the notable emissions from coal combustion (CC) and non-ferrous metals (NMS) exploitation dominate the crucial sources of low-level lead exposure to children after phasing out leaded gasoline in China currently. Faced with the unequal and disparate distribution of BLLs in China, the big bottleneck is to decrease the BLLs exertions of 36-45 μg/L in the next few decades. The Chinese government needs to make more efforts on developing more strict guidelines, implementing more policy strategies on prevention and management of blood Pb poisoning, and monitoring the nationwide changes in children's BLLs continuously.
铅（Pb）是一种神经毒性金属，儿童接触任何水平的铅都不安全。尽管中国政府自 2000 年以来已逐步淘汰含铅汽油，但中国仍面临儿童铅中毒问题。影响中国儿童铅污染相关健康的根本问题仍有待全面调查。研究发现，尽管儿童血铅水平（BLLs）的几何平均值（GM）从 2001 年的 91.40μg/L 显著下降到 2018 年的 37.52μg/L，但自 2000 年中国逐步淘汰含铅汽油以来，儿童 BLLs 的平均值仍高于 50μg/L 或更高[平均 59.70（60.50-65.02，95%CI）μg/L]。铅暴露导致中国每 1000 名儿童中有 29.67 个 MID（伤残调整生命年），每 1000 名儿童中有 98.23 个 DALY（伤残调整生命年）丧失（59.40-146.21，95%CI），高于西太平洋地区和其他中低收入国家的报告水平。中国儿童犯罪数量（NoCCs）与儿童长期铅暴露的结果之间存在显著相关性。尽管中国 BLLs 的差异受到潜在多铅相关来源（土壤铅、PM2.5 铅、灰尘铅）分布不均、地方工业化和经济发展不平衡以及对幼儿保健不当等因素的强烈影响，但煤炭燃烧（CC）和有色金属（NMS）开采的显著排放目前主导着中国逐步淘汰含铅汽油后儿童低水平铅暴露的关键来源。面对中国 BLLs 分布不均的问题，降低未来几十年内 36-45μg/L 的 BLLs 水平是一个巨大的瓶颈。中国政府需要加大力度制定更严格的指导方针，实施更多预防和管理血铅中毒的政策战略，并持续监测全国儿童 BLLs 的变化。
