Screening children exposed to lead: an assessment of the capillary blood lead fingerstick test

We describe results of a 3-year study in which 499 paired venous and capillary blood specimens, collected by fingerstick on the same day, were analyzed for lead (BPb) and erythrocyte protoporphyrin (EP). False-positive rates (FPRs) and the proportion of false positives were calculated at four BPb th...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Clinical chemistry (Baltimore, Md.) Md.), 1997-02, Vol.43 (2), p.302-311
Main Authors: Parsons, Patrick J, Reilly, Andrew A, Esernio-Jenssen, Debra
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Biological and medical sciences
Capillaries
Chemical and industrial products toxicology. Toxic occupational diseases
Child
Child, Preschool
Environmental Exposure
Erythrocytes - chemistry
False Positive Reactions
Female
Fingers
Humans
Infant
Lead - blood
Lead Poisoning - prevention & control
Male
Mass Screening
Medical sciences
Metals and various inorganic compounds
Protoporphyrins - blood
Spectrophotometry, Atomic
Toxicology
Veins
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Summary:We describe results of a 3-year study in which 499 paired venous and capillary blood specimens, collected by fingerstick on the same day, were analyzed for lead (BPb) and erythrocyte protoporphyrin (EP). False-positive rates (FPRs) and the proportion of false positives were calculated at four BPb thresholds. At the 100 microg/L threshold, the FPR for all data was 13%, but the proportion of false positives was only 5%. The log ratios of capillary-to-venous BPb data indicate that, with the exception of eight outliers, two subpopulations exist that follow a log-normal distribution. These two subpopulations, the "core" (n = 303) and "shifted" (n = 188) groups, on average generated a positive bias at 100 microg/L BPb of 8.6% and 30.3%, respectively. The log ratios of capillary-to-venous EP data followed a normal distribution, indicating that capillary EP is not statistically different from venous EP.
ISSN:0009-9147
1530-8561
DOI:10.1093/clinchem/43.2.302