Comparison of biometric data of children with high and low levels of lead in the blood

Abstract

This paper deals with a biometric study of 312 boys and girls, aged 2.5–16 years, living in an area with a long history of pollution by lead. The aim was to search for eventual relationships between ten biometric variables and measures of lead absorption in the bodies, i.e. the amount of lead in the blood (PbB), of these children. Standardized values of the biometric variables were compared in the high‐PbB and low‐PbB categories, by multivariate analysis of variance. Comparison of the vectors of the ten biometric variables reveals a significant difference between the two categories of PbB levels. We found some evidence that the younger children (below 8 years of age) are more likely to absorb lead in the body and are more vulnerable to the effects of subclinical lead intoxication than their older counterparts. The differences between the averages of biometric variables in the two PbB categories are consistently (although not significantly) greater among younger children. This trend disappeared in the older age group. These results confirm data from the literature that young children are especially at risk. It can be concluded that there is a subtle, but significant, influence of lead absorption on the biometric profiles of children and that this effect is probably more important in children below 8 years of age.