The effectiveness of housing policies in reducing children's lead exposure

Objectives, This study evaluated the relation of housing policies to risk o f exposure in addresses where lead-poisoned children had lived. Methods. Addresses where children with lead poisoning lived between May 199 2 and April 1993 were selected from lead screening registries in 2 northeas tern states differing in their enforcement of lead poisoning prevention sta tutes. Blood lead levels of subsequently resident children, exterior condit ion, tax value, age, and census tract characteristics were collected. The o dds of elevated blood lead levels in subsequently resident, children were c alculated with logistic regression. Results. The risk of identifying 1 or more children with blood lead levels of 10 mug/dL or greater was 4 times higher in addresses with limited enforc ement. Controlling for major confounders had little effect on the estimate. Conclusions. Enforcement of housing policies interrupts the cycle of re pea ted lead exposure.