BLOOD LEAD LEVELS IN TAIWANESE ADULTS - DISTRIBUTION AND INFLUENCING FACTORS

Five-thousand nine-hundred thirteen Taiwanese adults were selected by multistage sampling methods to investigate environmental lead exposure in Taiwan, The blood specimens were distributed to six laboratories f or blood lead levels (BLL) measurement, The mean BLL of the 5913 Taiwa nese adults was 8.28 +/- 5.39 mu g/dl, with a maximum level of 57.6 mu g/dl. The median was 7.0 mu g/dl and 90th percentile was 15.0 mu g/dl . BLLs were associated with gender, ethnic group, education level, smo king, alcohol consumption, herbal drug consumption, milk consumption, sources of drinking water, level of urbanization, and occupational lea d exposure. These results showed that BLLs in Taiwanese adults were st able during the 2-year study. Most of the influencing factors were con sistent with other studies, while local risk factors, such as Chinese herbal drug consumption are important ways of preventing the general p opulation from overexposure to lead.