Biomonitoring of lead in blood of children living in a former mining area in Lower Saxony, Germany

Environmental exposure to lead substantially decreased over the past decades. However, soil of former mining areas still contains high lead levels. We therefore performed a biomonitoring study among children living in two former mining communities in Lower Saxony, Germany. In these communities, soil contains lead levels of 1000 to 30,000 mg/kg. Overall, 75 children (6-10 years of age) attending the two primary schools of the study area took part in the study. Parents completed a short questionnaire on sociodemographics, and children provided capillary whole blood samples. We analysed lead using inductively coupled plasma tandem mass spectrometer. We compared the results to current German (20 μg/l for boys, 15 μg/l for girls) and US (35 μg/l) reference values. Potential associations between questionnaire information and lead results were tested using lead as continuous outcome and using lead dichotomized at the reference values. Finally, we analysed spatial patterns of elevated biomonitoring results. Of all children, 48% exceeded the German reference values for lead (5% expected) and 8% the US reference value (2.5% expected). Children 6-8 years of age were more likely to exceed German reference values (63%) than 9-10 year old children were (32%; pFisher = 0.01). No other questionnaire information was statistically significantly associated with biomonitoring results. Additionally, we did not find any indication of spatial clustering. In conclusion, we observed elevated blood lead levels in primary school children living in a former mining area. In the next step, exposure pathways need to be identified to implement effective public health measures.