Predictors of lead stores in male veterans

Thirty-two male veterans participated in a study to determine cumulative lead exposure in an urban population. Subjects were chosen on the basis of blood pressure status in order to attempt to compare lead exposure between patients with and without hypertension. Patients currently enrolled in hypertension clinic and on treatment were recruited and matched with controls for age, race, and socioeconomic status. Each subject underwent provocative chelation via slow intravenous infusion of CaNa2 EDTA and 6-h urinary lead measurement and completed an interviewer-administered questionnaire. Twenty blacks and 12 whites participated, with a median age of 52 years (range: 27 to 72). Urinary lead excretion ranged from below detection limits to frankly toxic levels in an individual with heavy moonshine ingestion. Lead levels were higher than reported in other non-workplace populations. The distribution of lead values was skewed, as expected, with a median excretion of 75 mcg lead/6 h (corresponding to a median 24 degrees post-chelation urinary lead excretion of 286 mcg) and modal values between 50 and 75 micrograms lead. Levels of 95 mcg lead/6 h (corresponding to 24 degrees levels of 333 mcg lead) and above were considered "high" (N = 11) and the remainder were "low" (N = 21). Among those able to recall various characteristics of their first childhood dwellings, the presence of flaking paint in a multiple family dwelling was strongly associated with "high" lead excretion (X2 = 9.32, p = 0.009). Hypertensives excreted slightly more lead than nonhypertensives, although the difference was not statistically significant in this small sample. Lead excretion was not associated with current (treated) blood pressure determinations among hypertensives. However, lead excretion was associated with systolic pressure as recorded on entry to the hypertension clinic (N = 21, R2 = 0.24, p = 0.03).