Ja. Hoppin et al., VALIDATION OF A SELF-ADMINISTERED LEAD-EXPOSURE QUESTIONNAIRE AMONG SUBURBAN TEENAGERS, Environmental research, 74(1), 1997, pp. 1-10
Teenagers represent a unique population in which to evaluate lead expo
sure. A self-administered questionnaire was developed to evaluate the
current and historic lead exposures of teenagers. This work evaluates
the exposure questionnaire for both its ability to predict lead exposu
re and the accuracy of the teenage respondents. Subjects received the
survey at school and were instructed to get assistance from their pare
nts in questionnaire completion. Environmental samples (dust, soil, an
d water) were collected from 30 suburban Boston homes to evaluate the
questionnaire's predictiveness. To evaluate the accuracy of subjects'
responses, independent information about housing was obtained. The que
stionnaire was effective in identifying predictors of dust and soil le
ad levels, but not for water lead levels. Fine dust lead loading (<150
mu m) varied significantly among the six housing age categories (pre-
1940, 1940-1949, 1950-1959, 1960-1969, 1970-1979, and >1979) and traff
ic levels. Fine dust lead concentrations varied significantly with dec
ade of housing construction. Mean soil lead levels varied significantl
y among housing age categories, traffic levels, and exterior construct
ion materials. For the important predictors, there was excellent agree
ment between the teenagers' self-report and confirmatory information.
For housing age categories, the observed agreement was 69%; for traffi
c level, the observed agreement was 88%. These results illustrate that
questionnaires continue to be useful in evaluating home lead levels e
ven in suburban homes and that teenagers are accurate respondents. (C)
1997 Academic Press.