1. Environmental exposure to lead and children's intelligence at the age of seven years
- Author
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Baghurst, Peter A., McMichael, Anthony J., Wigg, Neil R., Vimpani, Graham V., Robertson, Evelyn F., Roberts, Russell J., and Tong, Shi-Lu
- Subjects
Lead poisoning -- Psychological aspects ,Intelligence levels -- Environmental aspects ,Children -- Psychological aspects - Abstract
Exposure to low levels of lead during early childhood may cause decreased intellectual development. A study compared the IQ scores of 494 seven-year-old children to their blood levels of lead both before birth and throughout the first seven years of their life. Children who had higher blood levels of lead before and after birth had lower IQ scores than those with lower blood levels of lead. At 15 months and two, three and four years old, children with a 30 microgram (ug) per deciliter concentration of lead in their blood had an IQ score that was 4% to 5% lower that of children with a 10 ug per deciliter concentration of lead in their blood. All of the children lived in a lead-smelting community in Australia and had been reported as having slower intellectual development at two and four years old. It is not known whether exposure to lead during early childhood affects mental development later in life.
- Published
- 1992