THE INFLUENCE OF BLOOD LEAD ON THE NEUROPSYCHOLOGY OF PREGNANT WOMEN IN THE KLANG VALLEY, MALAYSIA

Pregnant women with high blood lead posed high risk to their fetus as placental transfer can occurs to the fetus. The objective of this study was to identify the relationship between blood lead and the neuropsychological score of women who were in their 3rd trimester of pregnancy. These respondents were undergoing a routine antenatal checkup at a teaching hospital located in Klang Valley areas. Blood lead concentrations were analyzed using graphite furnace Atomic Absorption Spectrophotometer (AAS). The neuropsychological scores were measured with WHO Neurobehavioral Core Test battery (NCTB). The test consists of 7 items, which made up of the Digit Symbol, Trail Making, Digit Span, Benton Visual Retention Test, Pursuit Aiming, Santa Ana Manual Dexterity, Reaction Time and Movement Time tests. The mean blood lead was 7.78±4.77 µg/dL. The mean score for the total NCTB test was 50.00±5.24. Statistical analysis showed blood lead concentrations were inversely correlated with the total NCTB score (r= –0.462, p≤0.01). The correlation was about 21.3%. The General Linear Model (GLM) showed that age (β= –0.15, p=0.017), weight (β=2.67, p=0.05) and height (β=–1.97, p=0.05) also influence the total neuropsychological scores. In conclusion, blood lead reduces the total neuropsychological scores. The scores for each of the 7 items were inversely and significantly correlated with blood lead concentrations except for the Trail Making and Santa Ana Manual Dexterity tests.

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Blood Lead Survey of Children, Pregnant Women, Professional Drivers, Street Workers, and Office Workers in Trujillo, Peru

Archives of Environmental Health An International Journal ◽

10.3200/aeoh.59.7.359-362 ◽

2004 ◽

Vol 59 (7) ◽

pp. 359-362 ◽

Cited By ~ 6

Author(s):

Luke P. Naeher ◽

Manuel Aguilar-Villalobos ◽

Todd Miller

Keyword(s):

Pregnant Women ◽

Blood Lead ◽

Office Workers ◽

Professional Drivers

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Assessment of a Screening Questionnaire to Identify Exposure to Lead in Pregnant Women

International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health ◽

10.3390/ijerph17249220 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 17 (24) ◽

pp. 9220

Author(s):

Eléna Coiplet ◽

Marine Freuchet ◽

Claire Sunyach ◽

Julien Mancini ◽

Jeanne Perrin ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Pregnant Women ◽

Lead Exposure ◽

Blood Lead ◽

Blood Lead Levels ◽

Cross Sectional ◽

Lead Levels ◽

Risk Of Exposure ◽

Exposure During Pregnancy ◽

Systematic Identification

Lead readily crosses the placenta and displays adverse effects on birth outcomes and neurodevelopment. Systematic identification of the risk of exposure during pregnancy is essential but rarely performed, probably due to hospital staff’s workload and their lack of awareness. We aimed to evaluate the relevance of a questionnaire to screen pregnant women for lead exposure. A cross-sectional, multicentre study was carried out on a population of 792 pregnant women from February 2018 to May 2020. A total of 596 women had a blood lead test: 68.5% had blood lead levels below 10 μg/L. The estimated prevalence above 25 µg/L was 4% (95% confidence interval (CI) [2.6–5.9]) and 1.3% had levels above 50 µg/L (95% CI [0.6–2.6]). Multivariate analysis showed that three risk factors significantly increased the probability of blood lead levels above 25 µg/L: the use of traditional cosmetics (adjusted odds ratio [aOR]: 3.90; 95% CI [1.65–9.21]; p = 0.002), degraded old housing (aOR: 2.67; 95% CI [1.19–6.038]; p = 0.018), and (marginally) eating bread more than twice a day (aOR: 2.40; 95% CI [0.96–6.11]; p = 0.060). Our study reveals that a three-question tool can be used to quickly screen for the risk of lead exposure in our population and to trigger lead blood tests and special vigilance during pregnancy follow-up.

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