Lead Environmental Pollution and Childhood Lead Poisoning at Ban Thi Commune, Bac Kan Province, Vietnam

• Published in: BioMed research international 2018-01, Vol.2018 (2018), p.1-7
• Main Authors: Khue, Pham Minh, Hung, Nguyen Minh, Son, Nguyen Duc, Trung, Nguyen Dinh, Phuong, Ha Lan, Binh, Ta Thi, Van, Duong Khanh, Van Tung, Lo, Doan, Ngoc Hai, Giang, Hoang Thi
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Adults; Archives & records; Bans; Blood; Blood levels; Chelation; Child development; Childhood; Children; Children & youth; Coal mining; Environmental health; Environmental protection; Ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid; Exposure; Families & family life; Food contamination & poisoning; Girls; Hair; Inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry; Laboratories; Lead; Lead content; Lead poisoning; Low concentrations; Mass spectrometry; Mass spectroscopy; Mines; Poisoning; Pollution; Public health; Sediment pollution; Soil contamination; Soil pollution; Soils; Towns; Weight; Zinc
• ISSN: 2314-6133; 2314-6141
• DOI: 10.1155/2018/5156812

Lead poisoning is a public health problem in many areas of the world. Children are at particularly high risk for adverse effects of lead exposure; even at low concentrations, lead can affect physical, mental, and behavioral development. Children living near lead-zinc mines are at high risk for environmental lead poisoning, especially the contaminated soil. We conducted a cross-sectional descriptive study in Ban Thi Commune, northern Vietnam. 195 children (92,9% participation) aged 3-14 years old (average: 7.69 ± 2.90) were randomly selected from a list of all children prepared by the village health collaborators. 109 (55.90%) were boys and 86 (44.10%) were girls. The research measures were the lead concentration in native soil and the children’s total blood lead concentration determined by the inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) method. The results showed that lead content in soil was many times higher than American Environmental Protection Agency and Vietnam standards (average 2980.23 ± 6092.84 mg/kg dry weight of soil (range 80.05 – 33820.62)). Average blood lead levels for children were 15.42 ± 6.45 μg/dL (95% CI: 14.50 -16.33 μg/dL). The percentage of children with lead levels >10 μg/dL (value considered to be lead poisoning for children according to the Ministry of Health of Vietnam) was 79.49% of the total number of children. None of the children in this study had blood lead level (BLL) that required chelation treatment according to Vietnam MOH guideline (BLL ≥45 μg/dL). There is weakly evidence that lead exposure relates to the physical development of children. Children with low lead concentrations (less than 10 μg/dL) had height and weight of 1.47-3.51 cm and 1.19-2.81 kg, greater than those with BLL >10 μg/dL (p>0.05).