Lead induced increase of blood pressure in female lead workers

Abstract

Aims: Although lead exposure has, in the absence of mathematical modelling, been believed to elevate blood pressure in females, it is necessary to clarify the relation between lead and blood pressure by eliminating confounding factors in the analysis. Methods: Blood lead was measured in 193 female workers, including 123 lead exposed workers. Possible confounding factors were controlled by multiple regression analyses. Results and Conclusion: Blood lead above 40 µg/dl was found to be the most potent factor for elevating systolic/diastolic blood pressure. Aging, urine protein, and plasma triglyceride also contributed to systolic/diastolic/pulse pressure increase, but hypertensive heredity did not. Data suggested that lead induced changes in lipoprotein metabolism may play an important role in the lead induced blood pressure increase in female workers. Blood pressure is believed to become increased among residents exposed to lead, such as that emitted from house paint, gasoline, and other sources. Several reports are available concerning the lead-blood pressure relation in which confounding factors (age, sex, hypertensive heredity, nutrition, lead exposure level, etc) were adjusted by mathematical modelling.1-7 Harlan and colleagues 8 described a close association between blood lead and systolic or diastolic blood pressure, based on the Second National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey data (NHANES II). We have also applied mathematical modelling to our survey data on 220 male workers, and found that diastolic blood pressure was increased in male workers with blood lead concentrations above 40 µg/dl.9 On the other hand, Harlan 10 indicated that blood lead was closely related to systolic and diastolic pressures in males but not in females, based on multiple regression analysis. Female workers were normally not included or exposed to lower concentrations of lead, and no consensus for the relation between lead exposure and blood lead has been established.We therefore examined the lead induced increase of blood pressure in female workers by the use of mathematical modelling. METHODS Study populationThe study population consisted of 127 female crystal toy making workers (age range 17-44 years, mean (SD) 27.3 (5.4) years; duration of employment 0.8-25.0 years, mean 7.2 (4.6) years) and 70 female sewing workers (age range 16-58 years, mean 24.2 (6.4) years; duration of employment 0.1-11.4 years, mean 2.2 (2.2) years). All female workers were examined in each factory. Both factories were located in Beijing City, China. The working environment of the crystal toy making factory was contaminated with lead dust at concentrations of 0.39-1.91 mg/m 3 (mean 0.92 (0.42)) that were much higher than the occupational exposure limit of 0.05 mg/m 3 recommended by the American Conference of Governmental Industrial Hygienists.11 The suburban environment, the target site, was also seriously polluted with lead from automobile exhaust gases, although no precise data were available for the target site at the time of our survey. Table 1...

Relationship of Blood Lead Levels to Blood Pressure in Exhaust Battery Storage Workers

“…The role of Pb as an occupational pollutant stressor for elevated blood pressure could well be confounded by the presumed role of other risk factors such as age, BMI, alcohol consumption, smoking habits, HCT, plasma trigliceride and cholesterol [16][17][18] .…”

Diagnosis, Evaluation, and Treatment of Lead Poisoning in General Population

“…Perry et al [2] demonstrated in rats exposed to lead in amounts comparable to the environmental lead exposure to human beings had an average elevation in systolic pressure comparable to that of human beings. Studies conducted by Nomiyama et al [3] demonstrated that blood lead above 40 lg/dl was found to be the most potent factor for elevating systolic/diastolic blood pressure. Their data suggested that lead induced changes in lipoprotein metabolism that play an important role in the lead induced increase in blood pressure.…”

Ambulatory (24 Hour) Blood Pressure Monitoring in Police Officers

“…Studies in the literature have suggested an association between high levels of blood lead and high BP in different categories of workers exposed, such as: police officers 8) , welders and PVC-workers (polyvinyl chloride) 9) , industrial workers and subjects exposed to vehicle smoke 10) , workers in the metal industry or other industrial activities 11) . The hypertension following lead exposure may be due to a higher secretion of renin by cells of the iuxtaglomerular apparatus 7) and/or to an alteration in plasma lipoprotein 12) . Kotseva e Popov (1998) have evaluated BP values at rest in workers exposed to benzene, toluene and xylene: systolic and diastolic BP values were significantly higher in exposed workers than in controls 13) .…”

“…Studies on animals and human subjects have suggested that urban pollutants may alter blood pressure (BP) values; these agents are cadmium [1][2][3][4][5] , lead [6][7][8][9][10][11][12] benzene, toluene and xylene 13,14) . Besides these, physical agents such as noise [15][16][17][18][19] and psycho-social stressors [20][21][22][23] could alter BP values.…”