Relations between the blood lead level and metabolic syndrome risk factors

This study is to examine the relations between the blood lead level, which has an effect on lipid metabolism in the body, and metabolic syndrome to establish a basic reference for the development of a local community health management program.

This study is a descriptive correlational study about verifying the relation between the blood lead level and metabolic syndrome risk factors. A total of 2,833 respondents' data were sampled on the 1st year (2016) data of the 7th Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey conducted by the Korean Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

The data were analyzed to explore blood lead level differences by demographic characteristics, correlations between the blood lead level and metabolic syndrome risk factors using chi-square test, Mann-Whitney U-test, Pearson correlation coefficient, and binary logistic regression.

Systolic and diastolic blood pressure, triglycerides (TG), and FBS demonstrated a significant difference by blood lead level (p < 0.001). Systolic and diastolic blood pressure, waist circumference, and FBS and TG levels were positively correlated with blood lead level (p < 0.005), whereas high-density lipoprotein cholesterol was negatively correlated (r = -0.038, p < 0.005).

This study confirmed that the blood lead level was significantly correlated with all metabolic syndrome variables.