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Abstract. A prospective method was used in this study to assess the effects of fetal lead exposure on neurodevelopmental status in 3- and 6-month old infants. At their first prenatal medical appointments, 305 lower socioeconomic status women residing in predesignated lead-hazardous areas of Cincinnati were recruited. Lead was measured in whole blood in both the mother and fetal-placental unit (prenatal and cord) and the neonate (ten days and 3 months). All blood lead levels were less than 30 micro g/dL. Infant development was assessed with the Bayley scales at 3 and 6 months of age. Multiple regression analyses which treated perinatal health factors such as birth weight and gestation as confounders indicated an independent, inverse relationship between both prenatal and neonatal blood lead levels and performance on the Bayley Mental Developmental Index at both ages. Male infants and infants from the poorest families appeared to be especially sensitive to these psychoteratogenic influences. Further study using a structural equations approach indicated that neurobehavioral deficits were partly mediated by lead-related reductions in birth weight and gestation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract. The social and developmental correlates of early lead exposure were explored in an interim analysis of data from an ongoing longitudinal investigation in Cincinnati. Regardless of the apparent net availability of lead in the infant's physical environment, parental behavior was still significantly associated with infant blood lead levels. However, this was only the case after infants in the study reached 6 months of age and beyond when prewalking progression and early walking made parental management all the more critical. Future lead screening and abatement programs should include supports for the caretaker-child relationship. Pediatrics 1985;75:1114-1119; lead exposure, child development, caretaker-child interaction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]