探討台灣南北兩地兒童血中鉛濃度之分布

Blood Lead Levels Among Children in Northern and Southern Taiwan

黃獻立(Hsien-Li Huang) ； 吳嘉福(Chia-Fu Wu) ； 黃雅卿(Ya-Ching Huang) ； 古伯文(Po-Wen Gu) ； 蔣玉韶(Yu-Shao Chiang) ； 甯孝真(Hsiao-Chen Ning)

《Journal of Biomedical & Laboratory Sciences》 24卷3期 (2012/09) Pp. 101-108

https://doi.org/10.30046/JBLS.201209.0005

摘要

Objective: It is generally accepted that children with blood lead levels (BLLs) above 10 μg/dL are considered as lead poisoning. However, many reports indicate that even when children with lower exposure than 10 μg/dL of blood lead level, adverse effects on children's mental development could be observed. In light of these concerns, the objective of this research was to evaluate BLLs of children in northern and southern Taiwan. A total of 238 blood samples taken from children ranging in age 0-18 were measured by Atomic Absorption Spectrometry. The geometric mean BLL of Children in southern Taiwan (2.79 μg/dL) was significantly higher than that of children in northern Taiwan (1.95 μg/dL, p＜0.001) and boy's BLL (2.52 μg/dL) was significantly higher than girl's (2.14 μg/dL, p＜0.01). In addition, this study has found that the mean BLL increased with age in children. Specifically, children less than 1 year old in northern Taiwan had mean BLL of 0.79μg/dl whereas the mean BLL of 18 years old children from the same region increased to1.97 μg/dL. Likewise, the mean BLL increased from 1.86 μg/dL in children less than 1 year old from southern Taiwan to 2.99 μg/dL in children of 18 years old from the same region. Moreover, compiling our data of BLLs from 2006 to 2010, we have found that the geometric mean BLL of children in Taiwan was higher than that in developed countries such as USA and Germany. We have also found that more than 12% of children from southern Taiwan had BLLs above 10 μg/dL. Taken together, these data indicate that high BLL is a problem in children of Taiwan, particularly of southern Taiwan, and this problem deserves more attention from parents and government agencies.

關鍵字

兒童 ； 血中鉛 ； 鉛 ； 台灣

並列摘要

Objective: It is generally accepted that children with blood lead levels (BLLs) above 10 μg/dL are considered as lead poisoning. However, many reports indicate that even when children with lower exposure than 10 μg/dL of blood lead level, adverse effects on children's mental development could be observed. In light of these concerns, the objective of this research was to evaluate BLLs of children in northern and southern Taiwan. A total of 238 blood samples taken from children ranging in age 0-18 were measured by Atomic Absorption Spectrometry. The geometric mean BLL of Children in southern Taiwan (2.79 μg/dL) was significantly higher than that of children in northern Taiwan (1.95 μg/dL, p＜0.001) and boy's BLL (2.52 μg/dL) was significantly higher than girl's (2.14 μg/dL, p＜0.01). In addition, this study has found that the mean BLL increased with age in children. Specifically, children less than 1 year old in northern Taiwan had mean BLL of 0.79μg/dl whereas the mean BLL of 18 years old children from the same region increased to1.97 μg/dL. Likewise, the mean BLL increased from 1.86 μg/dL in children less than 1 year old from southern Taiwan to 2.99 μg/dL in children of 18 years old from the same region. Moreover, compiling our data of BLLs from 2006 to 2010, we have found that the geometric mean BLL of children in Taiwan was higher than that in developed countries such as USA and Germany. We have also found that more than 12% of children from southern Taiwan had BLLs above 10 μg/dL. Taken together, these data indicate that high BLL is a problem in children of Taiwan, particularly of southern Taiwan, and this problem deserves more attention from parents and government agencies.

並列關鍵字

Children ； Blood lead level ； lead ； Taiwan