We conducted a cross-sectional epidemiologic study to assess the association between blood lead level and hematocrit in 579 one to five year-old children living near a primary lead smelter in 1974. Blood lead levels ranged from 0.53 to 7.91 ,umol/L (11 to 164 ,ug/dl). To predict hematocrit as a function of blood lead level and age, we derived non-linear regression models and fit percentile curves. We used logistic regression to predict the probability of hematocrit values less than 35 per cent. We found a strong nonlinear, dose-response relationship between blood lead level and hematocrit. This relationship was influenced by age, but (in this age group) not by sex; the effect was strongest in youngest children. In
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