1. Identifying housing that poisons: a critical step in eliminating childhood lead poisoning.
- Author
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Reyes NL, Wong LY, MacRoy PM, Curtis G, Meyer PA, Evens A, and Brown MJ
- Subjects
- Chicago epidemiology, Child, Preschool, Epidemiological Monitoring, Humans, Infant, Infant, Newborn, Lead blood, Lead Poisoning, Nervous System, Childhood epidemiology, Lead Poisoning, Nervous System, Childhood prevention & control, Poverty Areas, Urban Health, Environmental Monitoring statistics & numerical data, Housing statistics & numerical data, Lead Poisoning epidemiology, Lead Poisoning prevention & control
- Abstract
The purpose of our study was to develop a method to identify and prioritize "high-risk" buildings in Chicago that could be targeted for childhood lead poisoning prevention activities. We defined "high-risk" buildings as those where multiple children younger than 6 years with elevated blood lead levels (BLLs) had lived and where lead hazards were previously identified on environmental inspection. By linking 1997-2003 Chicago elevated blood lead surveillance, environmental inspection, and building footprint data, we found that 49,362 children younger than 6 years with elevated BLLs lived at 30,742 buildings. Of those, 67 were "high-risk" buildings and these were associated with 994 children with elevated BLLs. On average, 15 children with elevated BLLs had lived in each building (range: 10-53, median: 13). Almost two thirds (n = 43) of the high-risk buildings had two or more referrals for inspection to the same apartment or housing unit; of those, 40 percent (n = 17) failed to maintain lead-safe status after compliance. Linking blood lead surveillance, environmental inspection, and building footprint databases allowed us to identify individual high-risk buildings. This approach prioritizes lead hazard control efforts and may help health, housing, and environmental agencies in targeting limited resources to increase lead-safe housing for children.
- Published
- 2006
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