Direct Measurement of Lead in Bone: A Promising Biomarker

Details

• Personal Author:
  Landrigan, Philip J. ; Todd AC
• Description:
  Chronic excessive exposure to lead is widespread in industrialized societies. In the United States, an estimated 3 million young children have a blood lead level of 0.50 umol/L(10 ug/dL)or more, the level considered by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to indicate increased absorption. Also, more than 1.4 million industrial workers have the potential for chronic exposure through occupations such as stained glass manufacturing, battery making, and bridge Despite the extent of this exposure, great gaps exist in our knowledge of the chronic toxicity of lead. For example, we do not know the level of cumulative exposure in adults that is associated with chronic dysfunction of the central or peripheral nervous systems. We do not know whether chronic exposure is associated with motor neuron disease, parkinsonism, or other chronic neurological illnesses. We do not know the fraction of hypertension or of renal failure that may be attributable to elevated lead levels. In women, we know little about the toxic consequences of the lead mobilization that may occur during pregnancy, lactation, and menopause. In men, we do not know the level of exposure that may be associated with disordered spermatogenesis or other reproductive dysfunctions. Lack of a sensitive and specific biologic marker of cumulative exposure has long been an impediment to research in this field. The fundamental problem is that the blood lead level, the traditional index of absorption, reflects only relatively recent exposure because the half-life of lead in blood is only about 36 days. In persons with chronic exposure, there is little correlation between a single, randomly obtained blood lead level and either a cumulative index of absorption or the body lead burden. Now comes a technology-x-ray fluorescence (XRF) analysis of lead in bone-that appears to hold substantial promise for overcoming those limitations. The XRF technique, as reported in this issue of THE JOURNAL by Kosnett et al, takes advantage of the fact that absorbed lead is stored in bone and has a half-life in dense cortical bone of at least 25 years. Thus, it is hypothesized that direct measurement of lead in bone will provide data on cumulative past exposure and that these data will be useful for epidemiologic analysis as well as for clinical assessment. The XRF technique is noninvasive, relatively quick, and involves less than 2.5% of the radiation of a chest x-ray examination. demolishing. [Description provided by NIOSH]
• Subjects:
  Biomarkers Environmental Exposure Lead Occupational Exposure Occupational Health Safety
• Keywords:
  Biological Monitoring Chronic Exposure Environmental Exposure Occupational Exposure Skeletal System X-ray Fluorescence Analysis
• ISSN:
  0098-7484
• Document Type:
  Text
• Funding:
  Grant
• Genre:
  Journal Article
• Place as Subject:
  New York ; OSHA Region 2
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Pages in Document:
  239-240
• Volume:
  271
• Issue:
  3
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20059910
• Citation:
  JAMA 1994 Jan; 271(3):239-240
• Contact Point Address:
  Dr Landrigan, Department of Community Medicine, Mount Sinai School of Medicine, New York, NY 10029-6574
• CAS Registry Number:
  Lead (CAS RN 7439-92-1)
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  1994
• Performing Organization:
  Mount Sinai School of Medicine, New York
• Peer Reviewed:
  False
• Start Date:
  19920701
• Source Full Name:
  Journal of the American Medical Association
• End Date:
  19970630
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:45adb82ec23a0b01890b59fb1b5b0315b2705fb59e9f0fb15590fc509b581065ff862fc71911239392f8d57a4af3dd67e136ae13993a5dd0bca5fdcd0ef9acfc
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/223964/cdc_223964_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 309.00 KB ]