Variability and trend of multiple blood lead measures among construction and manufacturing workers

Details

• Personal Author:
  Blando, James ; Gu H ; Lin Y ; Lu S-E ; Marshall EG
• Description:
  Objectives: This study evaluated multiple blood lead measures collected over time and assessed differences arising from exposure and testing variability. Methods: Blood lead data was used to compare individuals from manufacturing and construction occupational cohorts. Trends of blood lead levels (BLLs) over time were analysed using mixed model analysis. Random selection of BLL values was used to determine the improvement in the precision of mean BLL estimates as the number of tests increased. Results: From 2003-2007, there were 619 manufacturing and 657 construction workers with more than one blood lead test reported. Construction workers had much more variability in their blood lead trends. They also tended to have less frequent follow-up blood tests compared with manufacturing workers. Both occupational cohorts had persistent BLLs that resulted in many workers with chronically high blood lead values (>25 mg/dL). Approximately 11.2% of construction workers and 34.8% of manufacturing workers with an initial blood lead test above 25 mg/dL remained above this blood level through the study period. The precision in the mean BLL estimates increased more substantially for construction workers when compared with manufacturing workers as the number of blood lead tests per worker increased. Conclusions: This study confirmed differences in the pattern of blood lead tests and the resulting trends for manufacturing compared with construction workers. It also suggested that the number of blood lead tests performed on a worker is an important consideration in the assessment of a worker's mean blood lead estimate, and this is particularly true for workers with highly variable exposures. [Description provided by NIOSH]
• Subjects:
  Blood Construction Industry Environmental Monitoring Hematologic Tests Laboratories Lead Manufacturing And Industrial Facilities Occupational Health Safety
• Keywords:
  Biological-effects Biological-monitoring Blood-analysis Blood-samples Blood-sampling Blood-tests Construction Construction-workers Exposure-assessment Humans Industrial-environment Industrial-factory-workers Laboratory-techniques Laboratory-testing Lead-absorption Lead-compounds Surveillance-programs

  More +
• ISSN:
  1351-0711
• Document Type:
  Text
• Funding:
  Contract
• Genre:
  Journal Article
• Place as Subject:
  New Jersey ; OSHA Region 2 ; OSHA Region 3 ; Virginia
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Volume:
  70
• Issue:
  11
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20043323
• Citation:
  Occup Environ Med 2013 Nov; 70(11):774-781
• Contact Point Address:
  Professor James Blando, Old Dominion University, College of Health Sciences, School of Community and Environmental Health, 4608 Hampton Blvd., Room 3134, Norfolk, VA 23529, USA
• Email:
  jblando@odu.edu
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2014
• Peer Reviewed:
  True
• Source Full Name:
  Occupational and Environmental Medicine
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:51bbe665b91c5f702cd967bf157b62396617b32b5e3106ed11e9e0603887ff327b7659f87ab6451e760cb840bcb4ebb8e7eb4998d0d113ee74efffb112e0f060
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/195246/cdc_195246_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 1.99 MB ]