Air Quality Criteria for Lead Volume II of II - (NEPIS)(EPA) - US ...

AX6-41
Table AX6-3.3 (cont’d). Neurobehavioral Effects Associated with Occupational Lead Exposure in Adults
Reference, Study
Location, and Period Study Description Pb Measurement Findings, Interpretation
Europe (cont’d)
_sterberg et al. (1997)
Sweden
38 workers, median age 42 (no range) yrs at
a secondary smelter stratified by finger bone
Pb concentration and along with 19 controls
matched triplets for age, education and job
level. Median yrs employed 10 (2-35).
High bone Pb
Median (range) bone 32
(17-101) µg/g
Median (range) blood Pb
38 (19-50) µg/dL
Median (range) peak blood
Pb 63 (46-90) µg/dL
Median (range) IBL 408
(129-1659) µg·yr/dL
Low bone Pb
Median (range) bone 16
(!7 to 49) µg/g
Median (range) blood Pb
34 (17-55) µg/dL
Median (range) peak blood
Pb 57 (34-78) µg/dL
Median (range) IBL 250
(47-835) µg·yr/dL
Controls
Median (range) bone 4
(!19 to 18) µg/g
Median (range) blood Pb 4
(1-7) µg/dL
A cognitive test battery (36 tests) covering learning and memory,
visuomotor function, visuospatial function, concentration and
sustained attention found no impairment or dose-response
relationships with any of the markers of Pb exposure. Deviating test
scores (belong to 10% lowest reference norms) were less in high
bone Pb (1 vs. 4 vs. 4). None of the deviating parameters were
significantly correlated with any of the Pb indices. Even when age
was taken into account the significant associations between outcome
and Pb exposure metrics did not exceed chance in light of the
numerous analyses performed. These were the most heavily Pbexposed
workers in Sweden. It was unusual that the 2 visuomotor
tasks significantly different had better performance in the Pbexposed
workers compared to the controls.