EXPOSURE TO LEAD AND SPECIFIC ATTENTIONAL PROBLEMS IN SCHOOLCHILDREN

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.