Lead Data and Statistics

Lead Data and Statistics

Number of Children Tested and Confirmed EBLLs by State and BLL Group, Children < 72 Months Old, 2006
State	Population < 72 Months Old	Number of Children Tested	Total Confirmed Children	Confirmed EBLL as % of Children Tested
Alabama	357,111	N/A	N/A	N/A
Alaska	57,773	N/A	N/A	N/A
Arizona	463,085	48,725	193	0.40%
California	3,034,623	505,303	3,172	0.63%
Colorado	359,896	N/A	N/A	N/A
Connecticut	270,763	69,507	1,165	1.68%
Delaware	62,380	10,375	60	0.58%
District of Columbia	39,356	12,260	203	1.66%
Florida	1,149,277	114,456	272	0.24%
Georgia	718,870	67,535	193	0.29%
Hawaii	94,749	N/A	N/A	N/A
Illinois	1,061,669	N/A	4,427	N/A
Indiana	509,812	46,732	569	1.22%
Iowa	227,171	51,480	848	1.65%
Kansas	227,151	27,521	312	1.13%
Kentucky	320,916	16,174	81	0.50%
Louisiana	381,856	55,501	267	0.48%
Maine	86,075	13,703	246	1.80%
Maryland	429,749	102,849	1,133	1.10%
Massachusetts	481,406	227,434	1,902	0.84%
Michigan	908,908	134,213	2,494	1.86%
Minnesota	398,895	85,849	614	0.72%
Mississippi	246,449	40,794	357	0.88%
Missouri	463,107	85,794	1,257	1.47%
Montana	66,513	N/A	N/A	N/A
Nebraska	40,659	124	37	29.84%
Nevada	174,857	1,215	3	0.25%
New Hampshire	92,820	14,798	309	2.09%
New Jersey	683,569	180,239	2,742	1.52%
New Mexico	157,699	N/A	N/A	N/A
New York	2,142,476	515,223	5,784	1.10%
North Carolina	651,034	136,409	504	0.37%
North Dakota	47,509	N/A	N/A	N/A
Ohio	911,807	117,340	2,696	2.30%
Oklahoma	283,596	27,021	211	0.78%
Oregon	269,102	12,284	60	0.49%
Pennsylvania	884,426	94,643	4,217	4.46%
Rhode Island	77,859	34,185	806	2.36%
South Carolina	319,537	N/A	N/A	N/A
Tennessee	452,712	61,517	257	0.42%
Texas	1,960,426	254,032	1,039	0.41%
Utah	249,696	N/A	N/A	N/A
Vermont	41,780	9,077	108	1.19%
Virginia	560,065	82,596	538	0.65%
Washington	491,073	4,844	30	0.62%
West Virginia	122,793	10,250	103	1.00%
Wisconsin	415,154	81,502	1,604	1.97%
Wyoming	37,226	N/A	N/A	N/A
US Total	23,485,435	3,353,504	40,813	1.22%

Source: Centers for Disease Control’s National Surveillance Data

$ = Incomplete screening data§ = Statewide Surveillance startup year ¶ = Incomplete data: CDC does not have the state’s complete dataset N/A = Data was either unavailable for analysis or the state did not have surveillance system in place at that time

National Report on Human Exposure to Lead
Geometric mean and selected percentiles of blood lead concentrations (in g/dL) for the U.S. population, 1999.
	Sample size	Geometric mean	Selected percentiles
			10th	25th	50th	75th	90th
Gender
Males	1,594	1.9	0.8	1.2	1.8	2.7	4.3
		(1.7-2.1)	(0.7-0.9)	(1.1-1.4)	(1.7-2.0)	(2.5-3.1)	(3.7-5.3)
Females	1,595	1.3	0.6	0.8	1.2	1.9	3.0
		(1.2-1.5)	(0.4-0.7)	(0.7-0.9)	(1.1-1.4)	(1.7-2.1)	(2.6-3.5)
Race/Ethnicity
Black, non-Hispanic	693	1.7	0.8	1.1	1.6	2.5	4.2
		(1.5-2.0)	(0.6-0.8)	(0.9-1.3)	(1.4-1.8)	(2.2-3.0)	(3.3-5.2)
Mexican American	1,289	1.8	0.7	1.1	1.6	2.8	4.1
		(1.6-2.0)	(0.6-0.8)	(0.9-1.2)	(1.4-1.9)	(2.3-3.3)	(3.8-5.2)
White, non-Hispanic*	1,207	1.5	0.6	1.0	1.5	2.3	3.5
		(1.4-1.7)	(0.5-0.7)	(0.8-1.1)	(1.3-1.6)	(2.1-2.5)	(3.1-4.1)
Age group
1-5 years	254	2.0	0.9	1.3	1.9	2.7	4.7
		(1.7-2.3)	(0.5-1.1)	(1.1-1.5)	(1.6-2.1)	(2.2-4.4)	(3.5-9.8)
6-11 years	419	1.3	0.6	0.8	1.2	1.7	2.7
		(1.0-1.6)	(0.5-0.7)	(0.7-1.0)	(1.0-1.5)	(1.4-2.2)	(1.9-4.7)
12-19 years	868	1.0	0.4	0.6	0.9	1.4	2.1
		(0.8-1.2)	(0.2-0.5)	(0.5-0.8)	(0.8-1.1)	(1.2-1.6)	(1.9-2.4)
20-39 years	595	1.4	0.6	0.8	1.3	2.0	2.8
		(1.2-1.5)	(0.5-0.7)	(0.8-1.0)	(1.1-1.5)	(1.7-2.2)	(2.5-3.2)
40-59 years	471	1.9	0.9	1.2	1.8	2.7	3.8
		(1.7-2.0)	(0.7-1.0)	(1.1-1.3)	(1.6-1.9)	(2.4-3.2)	(3.6-4.4)
60+ years	582	2.5	1.2	1.6	2.3	3.5	5.0

National Report on Human Exposure to Lead
Geometric mean and selected percentiles of urine concentrations and creatinine-adjusted levels for the U.S. population, 1999
	Sample size	Geometric mean	Selected percentiles
			10th	25th	50th	75th	90th
µg/L of urine	1,007	0.80	0.21	0.42	0.80	1.36	2.21
µg/g of creatinine*	1,007	0.72	0.31	0.45	0.69	1.11	1.67

* µg per gram of creatinine in urine Numbers in parenthesis are 95% confidence intervals.

Interpretation of the lead levels reported in the tables

Blood lead results are presented in Table 1 and urine lead results in Table 2.

Because of lead’s adverse effects on cognitive development, CDC has defined an elevated blood lead level as >10 µg/dL for children younger than 6 years of age. Data from CDC’s Third National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES), Phase 2 (1991-1994) (1) showed that the geometric mean blood lead level for children 1-5 years of old was 2.7 micrograms per deciliter (µg/dL) (95% confidence interval 2.5-3.0 µg/dL). Results in the Report for the same age group for 1999 show that the geometric mean blood lead level has decreased to 2.0 µg/dL (95% confidence interval 1.7-2.3 µg/dL). The sample size in the Report for 1999 is too small to provide reliable estimates of the percentage of children with blood lead levels >10 µg/dL. In future releases of the Report, more blood lead data will be available for this age group, thus permitting reliable estimates of the percentage of children with elevated blood lead levels.

For other age groups and population groups defined by sex and race/ethnicity, the 1999 Report data show consistently lower levels than those measured in the 1991-1994 period (1). The relation of blood lead levels to age is consistent with that seen previously (1).

Elevated blood lead levels among children continue to be a major public health concern.

Table 2 presents urine lead levels. Urine lead is used less frequently to gauge lead exposure. Percentiles provided in Table 2 will serve as reference levels for urine lead so that physicians can compare urine results for individual patients against background levels found in the U.S. population in 1999.