Childhood lead biokinetics and associations with age among a group of lead poisoned children in China

Childhood lead exposure has been shown to have a significant effect on neurodevelopment. Many of the biokinetics involved with lead biomarkers in children still remain unknown. Two hundred fifty (157 in the exposed group and 93 controls) children were enrolled in our study and lead exposed children returned for multiple visits for measurement of blood and bone lead and chelation treatment. We demonstrated that the correlation between blood and bone lead increased with subsequent visits. We calculated the blood lead half-life for 50 patients, and found a significant (p-value <0.001) positive correlation with age. For ages 1-3 years (n=17), the blood lead half-life was found to be 6.9 ± 4.0 days and for 3+ years it was found to be (n=33) 19.3 ± 14.1 days. In conclusion, the turnover of lead in children is faster than in adults. Our results indicate that blood lead is a more acute biomarker of exposure than previously thought, which will impact studies of children’s health using blood lead as a biomarker.