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Blood lead levels and childhood asthma

Ahmed Abdullah Mohammed1, Faisal Yosef Mohamed, El-Sayed El-Okda

  • 1Departments of Pediatrics and *Community medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Ain Shams University, Cairo, Egypt. Correspondence to: Dr Ahmed Abdullah Mohammed, Assistant Professor of Pediatrics, Ain Shams University, Faculty of Medicine, Abbassia, Cairo Egypt. PO Box 11566. ahmedazrak@gmail.com.

Indian Pediatrics
|May 2, 2015
PubMed

Insights

Elevated blood lead levels in children are not linked to asthma diagnosis but may worsen asthma severity. Higher lead levels correlated with increased eosinophilia and immunoglobulin E, indicating a potential link to more severe allergic responses in asthmatic children.

Area of Science:

  • Environmental Health
  • Pediatric Allergy
  • Toxicology

Background:

  • Bronchial asthma is a common chronic respiratory disease in children.
  • Environmental factors, including lead exposure, are increasingly investigated for their role in asthma pathogenesis.
  • Understanding the relationship between blood lead levels and asthma severity is crucial for public health initiatives.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To measure blood lead levels in children aged 5-14 years diagnosed with bronchial asthma.
  • To investigate the correlation between blood lead levels and the severity of asthma in affected children.
  • To compare blood lead levels in asthmatic children with those in healthy controls.

Main Methods:

  • A cross-sectional analytical study was conducted at a Pediatric Allergy and Immunology Clinic in Cairo, Egypt.
  • Blood lead levels were measured using the atomic absorption spectrophotometer technique.
  • 200 children with bronchial asthma and 125 healthy controls were enrolled.

Main Results:

  • No significant difference in mean blood lead levels was found between asthmatic children and controls.
  • A high prevalence of elevated blood lead levels (>10 ug/dL) was observed in both groups (58.5% overall).
  • Elevated blood lead levels were associated with higher frequencies of eosinophilia, increased total immunoglobulin E, and greater asthma severity.

Conclusions:

  • Blood lead levels are not significantly associated with the diagnosis of asthma.
  • Elevated blood lead levels appear to be linked to increased asthma severity.
  • Higher blood lead levels correlate with increased eosinophilia and immunoglobulin E levels in asthmatic children.
Abstract

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