BLOOD LEAD MONITORING IN THE GENERAL ITALIAN POPULATION

Blood lead (B-Pb) levels were determined in 1978-1979, 1980-1981, and 1985-1986 in subjects living in various regions in Italy according to the regulations contained in European Community Directive 77/312 and i n Presidential Decree DPR 496/82. From the data obtained, a lowering t ime trend in median B-Pb levels was evident for subjects from most of the considered Italian regions. In the total samples of male subjects, the median B-Pb levels were 200, 179, and 153 mu g/liter in 1978-1979 , 1980-1981, and 1985-1986, respectively. In female subjects median B- Pb levels were 140 mu g/liter in 1978-1979, 122 mu g/liter in 1980-198 1, and 100 mu g/liter in 1985-1986. A lowering time trend in B-Pb leve ls has been also observed in the period between 1980 and 1992 in subje cts living in the province of Rome. Median B-Pb levels decreased from 190 to 66 mu g/liter in males and from 150 to 42 mu g/liter in females . During the period of the monitoring program, all over the national t erritory, the maximum lead content in gasoline has been progressively reduced from 0.635 g/liter in 1980 to 0.15 g/liter in 1991. These data demonstrate how an appropriate measure may succeed in reducing enviro nmental lead contamination, finally resulting in an actual reduction i n the level of human exposure. Within the framework of the monitoring program, we studied the associations of blood lead to selected social, environmental, constitutional, and biochemical factors and to clinica l parameters. B-Pb was directly related to alcohol consumption, cigare tte smoking, and car-driving habits. A positive association was also f ound between B-Pb and both HDL-cholesterol and gamma-glutamyl-transpep tidase, two biochemical indexes of alcohol consumption. Finally, B-Pb was directly and significantly related to both diastolic and systolic blood pressure. (C) 1995 Academic Press, Inc.