Objective To analyze the blood lead levels of workers in non-traditional industries with heavy lead pollution in Shanghai, and describe the epidemiological pattern of blood lead levels in this population.
Methods We selected 7 382 lead workers engaged in non-traditional heavy lead pollution industries including machinery manufacturing, electronic processing, new energy, electric hardware, and automobile and accessories manufacturing as exposure group and another 875 pre-service workers as non-exposure group from the occupational Health Surveillance Information System of Shanghai Municipal Center for Disease Control and Prevention in 2012-2017. Fasting blood samples were collected from all subjects. Graphite furnace atomic absorption spectrometric method was applied to measure the blood lead levels. We compared the incidence of high blood lead (100-399.9 μg/L) among different groups. Multiple logistic regression analysis was used to explore the effects of lead exposure, gender, age, smoking, drinking, and length of service on blood lead levels.
Results In this study, none of the workers' blood lead levels exceeded 400 μg/L. The incidence of high blood lead (100-399.9 μg/L) was 3.10% (229/7 382) and the incidence of blood lead ≥ 50 μg/L was 12.07% (891/7 382). Multiple logistic regression analyses revealed that lead exposure, smoking, and men were the independent risk factors for high blood lead, and the ORs(95%CI) were 1.67 (1.03-2.69), 1.58 (1.13-2.22), 1.52 (1.11-2.10), respectively. The incidence rate of high blood lead was significantly higher in those aged over 40 years than in those under 30 (P < 0.001).
Conclusion The blood lead levels of workers in non-traditional industries with heavy lead pollution are at a low level in Shanghai. Men, smoking, and older lead workers should be the key populations of occupational health surveillance.
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