Abstract
The second National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES II) incorporated medical history, physical examination, anthropometric measurements, dietary recall and food frequency, laboratory tests and x rays. Blood leads (PbB) were 5-35 μg/dl. In multiple weighted linear regressions of adjusted data from 2695 children 6 mos - 7 yrs, 91%. of the variance in height, 72%. of the variance in weight and 58%. of the variance in chest circumference were explained by five variables: age or (age)2, race, sex, PbB, total calories or protein and hematocrit or transferrin saturation. The coefficients remained stable after correction for collinearity. A difference in PbB of 10 μg/dl predicted a 1.2 cm difference in height. Variables that did not significantly improve the models predicting growth included family income, degree of urbanization, serum albumin, copper, iron and zinc, dietary carbohydrate, fat, calcium, potassium, phosphorus, Vitamin C, Vitamin A, niacin, riboflavin and thiamine. The highly significant, independent correlation of PbB with growth does not contradict the established association of childhood deprivation with increased lead exposure and with nutritional deficiencies known to enhance lead absorption. Correlation does not imply causality, but the significant regression of stature on PbB merits investigation of these observations in other surveys and consideration of the multiple biologic mechanisms by which low level PbB could modify growth.
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Angle, C., Schwartz, J., Pirkle, J. et al. 509 BLOOD LEAD LEVELS AND STATURE IN THE NHANES II SURVEY. Pediatr Res 19, 195 (1985). https://doi.org/10.1203/00006450-198504000-00539
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1203/00006450-198504000-00539