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10 μg/dL. Mean BLL declined from 6.8 μg/dL in 1993–1994 to almost 5.5 μg/dL in 1998. GM BLL in spring and summer (‘nonheating’ season) months were 10% higher than BLL in children tested in fall and winter (‘heating’ season), although air lead concentrations were lower in nonheating and higher in the heating season. For both the heating and nonheating seasons, there was a significant increase in the mean BLL with increasing air lead concentrations. Poor housing (odds ratio (OR): 1.82; 95% CI: 1.4, 2.3), two or more siblings in the family (OR: 3.12; 95% CI: 2.6, 3.7), lack of recreational trips outside the region (OR: 1.66; 95% CI: 1.47, 1.89), and the time child spent outdoors were associated with elevated BLL. Variables found to affect BLL in the Silesian children should be used to propose criteria to improve identification of children at risk and to focus prevention activities more effectively.
2.5 μg/dL, women with BLL>2.5 μg/dL were associated with a threefold increased risk for infertility (adjusted odds ratio=2.94, 95% confidence interval 1.18–7.34), after controlling for age, body mass index, smoking, Chinese herbal Medicine use, and irregular menstruation. Women's BLL was a significant predictor of the serum estradiol concentration also. These findings suggest an important role of very low BLL in the risk of infertility in women.
doi:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2006.01.001 
Copyright © 2006 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
Environmental burden of disease due to lead in urban children from Silesia, Poland
Received 16 May 2005;
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Abstract
We performed environmental burden of disease (EBD) assessment of the neurotoxic effects of lead in the Polish urban children, in accordance with the WHO guidelines. The EBD assessment was based on the data on blood lead levels (BLL) of more than 8500 children from the lead biomonitoring programme conducted in the urban centre of the Upper Silesia Province, Poland between 1993 and 2000. In order to make the EBD assessment region specific, in the projections to years 2001 and 2005 we used 4% annual decrease in BLL, derived from the earlier analysis of the Silesian BLL data instead of the WHO proposed 7.8%. Mean BLL in the Silesian children projected for the year 2001 was higher (4.9 μg/dL) than the corresponding value for the WHO EurB region (3.9 μg/dL). The incidence rate of mild mental retardation (MMR) in the Silesian children was twice as high as in the EurB region for the year 2001, meaning more than two additional cases of MMR due to lead exposure per 1000 children aged 0–1 year, compared with 1 in 1000 children in the EurB region.
Keywords: Environmental burden of disease; Lead; Urban children; Silesia; Poland; Management of environment and health
Abbreviations: ABLL, adjusted BLL; BLL, blood lead level; DALY, a disability adjusted life year; EBD, environmental burden of disease; GBD, Global Burden of Disease; GM, geometric mean; GSD, geometric standard deviation; HRA, health risk assessment; IF, impact fraction; IQ, Intelligence Quotient; MMR, mild mental retardation; SD, standard deviation; WHO, World Health Organization; YLD, years lived with disability; YLL, years of life lost due to premature death.
