Tsai RJ, Lu JW, Henn SA, Hasanali SH, Harduar-Morano L, Nair A. Industry-specific prevalence of elevated blood lead levels among Pennsylvania workers, 2007-2018.
Occup Environ Med 2022;
79:oemed-2022-108340. [PMID:
35738891 PMCID:
PMC9780397 DOI:
10.1136/oemed-2022-108340]
[Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/11/2022] [Accepted: 06/06/2022] [Indexed: 12/27/2022]
Abstract
OBJECTIVES
To use industry-specific denominators to more accurately examine trends in prevalence rates for occupational cases of elevated blood lead levels (eBLLs) in Pennsylvania.
METHODS
We used adult (aged ≥16 years) blood lead level data from Pennsylvania (2007-2018) and industry-specific denominator data from the US Census Bureau's County Business Patterns to calculate prevalence rates for eBLLs, defined as ≥25 µg/dL.
RESULTS
Of the 19 904 cases with eBLLs, 92% were due to occupational lead exposure, with 83% from workers in the battery manufacturing industry. In 2018, the prevalence rate of eBLLs for battery manufacturing (8036.4 cases per 100 000 employed battery manufacturing workers) was 543 times the overall Pennsylvania prevalence rate. The prevalence rate for battery manufacturing steeply declined 71% from 2007 to 2018.
CONCLUSIONS
The battery manufacturing industry had the highest burden of occupational lead exposure in Pennsylvania, illustrating the importance of using industry-specific denominators to accurately identify sources of lead exposure. Although the prevalence rate of eBLLs declined over time, lead exposure remains a major concern among battery manufacturing workers.
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