CORRELATES OF BONE AND BLOOD LEAD LEVELS IN CARPENTERS

In the course of a health screening for construction carpenters, 127 s ubjects underwent blood lead testing, administration of detailed quest ionnaires, and in vivo measurement of bone lead levels with a Cd-109 K -X-ray fluorescence (K-XRF) instrument. The mean age of subjects was 4 8.5 (SD = 9.8) years. Blood lead levels were low, with a mean of 8.2 ( SD = 4.0) mug/dl. Bone lead levels had means of 9.8 (SD = 9,3) mug/g b one mineral for the tibia and 14.0 (SD = 13.8) mug/g bone mineral for the patella (which consist primarily of cortical bone and trabecular b one, respectively). In multivariate regression models, age was the dom inant predictor of both tibia and patella bone lead, with years since last worked and welding/brazing contributing an additional small amoun t of influence over tibia bone lead, and carpet laying, paint strippin g, and regular exercise contributing an additional small amount of inf luence over patella bone lead. Demolition, carpet laying, and alcohol ingestion were significant predictors of blood lead. We conclude that age is the most important predictor of bone lead levels among workers with intermittent exposures to lead; in addition, K-XRF is useful in g enerating hypotheses on additional factors that may influence lead bur den. (C) 1994 Wiley-Liss, Inc.