LEAD REFERENCE VALUES IN THE BLOOD OF THE URBAN-POPULATION

Introduction The lead reference values for blood used in Brazil come f rom studies conducted in other countries, where socioeconomic, clinica l, nutritional and occupational conditions are significantly different . in order to guarantee an accurate biomonitoring of the population wh ich is occupationally exposed to lead, a major health concern of the s tudied community, reference values for individuals who are not occupat ionally exposed and who live in the southern region of the city were e stablished. Material and Method The sample was composed of 206 subject s of at least 15 years of age. Various strategies were employed to ass ure good-quality sampling. Subjects who presented values outside clini cal or laboratory norms were excluded, as well as those whose specific activities might interfere with the results. Results Lead reference v alues for blood were found to be from 2.40 to 16.6 mu g.dL(-1), obtain ed by the interval (x) over bar+/-2s (where (x) over bar is the mean a nd s is the standard deviation form observed values) and the median, w as 7.9 mu g.dL(-1).