NEUROBEHAVIORAL AND NEUROPHYSIOLOGICAL OBSERVATIONS IN 6-YEAR-OLD CHILDREN WITH LOW LEAD LEVELS IN EAST AND WEST-GERMANY

Within a larger comparative environmental health screening program in East and West Germany neurobehavioral and neurophysiological measures were taken in 367 six year old children in Leipzig (N = 179), Gardeleg en (N = 68), and Duisburg (N = 120). Lead concentrations from venous b lood samples (PbB) ana from deciduous teeth (PbT) were measured as mar kers of environmental lead exposure by electrothermal AAS. Dependent v ariables included four subtests from NES1 (tapping, reaction time, pat tern comparison, and Benton visual retention), as well as VEP-latencie s (N-2, P-100, N-3) evoked by checkerboard patterns of different size and contrast. The overall median blood; lead-concentration was 5 mu g/ dl (range: 1.3 - 19.0 mu g/dl), and the corresponding tooth lead-conce ntration was 2 mu g/g (0.2 - 1.4 mu g/g). The 95-percentile of the ove rall frequency distribution for PbB was below 10 mu g/dl. Associations between markers of lead-exposure and neurobehavioral or neurophysiolo gical outcome were assessed by means of multiple linear or logistic re gression analyses. After adjusting for relevant confounders/ covariate s significant (p < 0. 05) Pb-related deficit was found for tapping and pattern recognition with respect to PbB but not PbT No such associati ons could be established for VEP-latencies. These results are compatib le with the hypothesis that subtle neurobehavioral dysfunction in chil dren may be associated with very low PbB. (C) 1994 Intox Press, Inc.