Search

Whether blood pressure is higher among those occupationally exposed to low concentrations of lead is a matter of interest in recent epidemiological studies. To explore this issue, we analysed 348 male workers in a vinylchloride-manufacturing company and a newspaper company, considering simultaneously the two major determinants of blood pressure: age and obesity. The following major findings emerged from the analysis.1) Both systolic and diastolic blood pressure appeared to increase with age and obesity.2) Blood lead levels decreased as obesity increased.3) Systolic blood pressure was significantly higher among those with high blood lead levels(7μg/dl or more), when they were both young(less than 43 years old)and less obese (less than 3.5% of the obesity index).4) Systolic blood pressure appeared to be higher among those with high blood lead levels when they were obese, irrespective of age.5) Diastolic blood pressure was higher, though not significant, among those with high blood lead levels, irrespective of both age and obesity.6) Partial correlation coefficients corrected by age and obesity were significant between systolic blood pressure and the log-transformed concentration of blood lead (r=0.116) and between diastolic blood pressure and the log-transformed concentration of blood lead (r=0.092).