Lead exposure: assessment of the risk for the general Italian population

According to the regulations contained in the presidential decree DPR 496/82 certain Italian regions have carried out investigations--based on the blood lead level measurement--for the biological surveillance of the general population against the risk of saturnism. A work-group from the Istituto Superiore di Sanità (Italian National Institute of Health) coordinated the activity of the various centers and organized an appropriate quality control program to guarantee the quality of the analytical data collected. A total of 8635 subjects (4864 females and 3771 males) have been examined, 1968 of which (1058 females and 910 males) were under 14 years of age. The median values of the observed blood lead levels were, for the adults, 153 micrograms/l in males and 100 micrograms/l in females; and, for the children, 94 micrograms/l in males and 86 micrograms/l in females. The reference limit decreed by law for the 98th percentile is exceeded by the adult-males group, while both limits, at the 90th and 98th percentiles are exceeded by the population residing in the Portoscuso (CA) municipality. Our investigation confirms the correlation between blood lead levels, alcohol consumption, and cigarette smoking; in both sexes and in all age groups (except for females 15-25 years of age) a positive correlation of blood lead levels with alcohol consumption and cigarette smoking is clearly evident. The association of blood lead levels with alcohol seems to be stronger than that with cigarette smoking. The comparison with the results of previous investigations shows a 25% reduction of blood lead levels in the general Italian population during the 1979-1985 period.