[Toxic effects of lead in children]

Children belong to this group of population which is most sensitive to harmful effect of lead. The neurotoxic effect of lead in children is assessed by means of psychological tests. They allow to evaluate general intellectual development, specific abilities and behavioural features. The author discussed the results (available in literature) of clinical examinations of children with higher blood level of lead found during blood tests performed for other purposes: cross-sectional epidemiological studies covering children exposed to lead in the place of their residence; and prospective studies of children followed up since birth in view of their exposure to lead and health effects caused by this exposure. The relationship between the level of exposure and psychological deficiency is rather low (exposure to lead explains from 1 to 4% of psychological variables variance), however, in a number of studies this relationship proved to be statistically significant. Taking into account the prospective studies it should be presumed that the blood lead level from 10 to 15 micrograms/dl may produce a risk of the developmental deficiency in an early childhood.