A TALE OF 2 SWATHS - URBAN CHILDHOOD BLOOD-LEAD LEVELS ACROSS SYRACUSE, NEW-YORK

A growing body of research documents various prominent and important g eographic dimensions to pediatric lead poisoning. This paper uses the Onondaga County Health Department database for 1992-1995 and the 1990 Census of Population and Housing data to analyze the spatial distribut ion of blood-lead levels in Syracuse, New York. Analyses are conducted at the individual, census block, census block group, and census tract resolutions. Regardless of geographic resolution, pediatric blood-lea d levels contain positive spatial autocorrelation, with two conspicuou s swaths being visible on maps. In apparent support of some previous r esearch, average housing value is found to be a principal predictor of blood-lead levels; so is population density. The primary conclusion o f the paper is that intervention strategies should focus on the old an d poor neighborhoods of the city and ones housing minority groups, and should address issues of housing quality and maintenance practices, a s well as soil contamination.