A pilot study was carried out to investigate the relationship between
exposure to lead and attention in children. The participants were 43 b
oys, 8 to 12 years of age, attending special schools for children with
educational and/or learning problems (so called LOM schools). Childre
n with probable causes of attentional or memory problems other than le
ad contamination were excluded from the study. Various aspects of atte
ntion were measured using neuropsychological tests. As an assessment o
f body lead burden, lead concentration in the boys' hair was measured
by means of the Synchrotron Radiation-Induced X-ray Fluorescence techn
ique (SXRF). Information was collected about variables that possibly c
ould influence attention and/or body lead burden (confounding factors)
. A multiple regression analysis was used to determine the contributio
n of lead to variance in performance, after correction for confounding
factors. The results showed that children with relatively high concen
trations of lead in their hair reacted significantly slower in a simpl
e reaction-time task than did children with relatively low concentrati
ons of lead in their hair. In addition, the former were significantly
less flexible in changing their focus of attention, even after correct
ion for the influence of their delayed reaction time.