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      Lead toxicity: a review

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          Abstract

          Lead toxicity is an important environmental disease and its effects on the human body are devastating. There is almost no function in the human body which is not affected by lead toxicity. Though in countries like US and Canada the use of lead has been controlled up to a certain extent, it is still used vehemently in the developing countries. This is primarily because lead bears unique physical and chemical properties that make it suitable for a large number of applications for which humans have exploited its benefits from historical times and thus it has become a common environmental pollutant. Lead is highly persistent in the environment and because of its continuous use its levels rise in almost every country, posing serious threats. This article reviews the works listed in the literature with recent updates regarding the toxicity of lead. Focus is also on toxic effects of lead on the renal, reproductive and nervous system. Finally the techniques available for treating lead toxicity are presented with some recent updates.

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          Lead Exposure and Cardiovascular Disease—A Systematic Review

          Ana Navas-Acien, Eliseo Guallar, Ellen Silbergeld … (2006)
          Objective This systematic review evaluates the evidence on the association between lead exposure and cardiovascular end points in human populations. Methods We reviewed all observational studies from database searches and citations regarding lead and cardiovascular end points. Results A positive association of lead exposure with blood pressure has been identified in numerous studies in different settings, including prospective studies and in relatively homogeneous socioeconomic status groups. Several studies have identified a dose–response relationship. Although the magnitude of this association is modest, it may be underestimated by measurement error. The hypertensive effects of lead have been confirmed in experimental models. Beyond hypertension, studies in general populations have identified a positive association of lead exposure with clinical cardiovascular outcomes (cardiovascular, coronary heart disease, and stroke mortality; and peripheral arterial disease), but the number of studies is small. In some studies these associations were observed at blood lead levels < 5 μg/dL. Conclusions We conclude that the evidence is sufficient to infer a causal relationship of lead exposure with hypertension. We conclude that the evidence is suggestive but not sufficient to infer a causal relationship of lead exposure with clinical cardiovascular outcomes. There is also suggestive but insufficient evidence to infer a causal relationship of lead exposure with heart rate variability. Public Health Implications These findings have immediate public health implications. Current occupational safety standards for blood lead must be lowered and a criterion for screening elevated lead exposure needs to be established in adults. Risk assessment and economic analyses of lead exposure impact must include the cardiovascular effects of lead. Finally, regulatory and public health interventions must be developed and implemented to further prevent and reduce lead exposure.
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            Lead poisoning.

            Herbert Needleman (2004)
            Understanding of lead toxicity has advanced substantially over the past three decades, and focus has shifted from high-dose effects in clinically symptomatic individuals to the consequences of exposure at lower doses that cause no symptoms, particularly in children and fetuses. The availability of more sensitive analytic methods has made it possible to measure lead at much lower concentrations. This advance, along with more refined epidemiological techniques and better outcome measures, has lowered the least observable effect level until it approaches zero. As a consequence, the segment of the population who are diagnosed with exposure to toxic levels has expanded. At the same time, environmental efforts, most importantly the removal of lead from gasoline, have dramatically reduced the amount of lead in the biosphere. The remaining major source of lead is older housing stock. Although the cost of lead paint abatement is measured in billions of dollars, the monetized benefits of such a Herculean task have been shown to far outweigh the costs.
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              The long-term effects of exposure to low doses of lead in childhood. An 11-year follow-up report.

              H L Needleman, A. Schell, D. Bellinger … (1990)
              To determine whether the effects of low-level lead exposure persist, we reexamined 132 of 270 young adults who had initially been studied as primary school-children in 1975 through 1978. In the earlier study, neurobehavioral functioning was found to be inversely related to dentin lead levels. As compared with those we restudied, the other 138 subjects had had somewhat higher lead levels on earlier analysis, as well as significantly lower IQ scores and poorer teachers' ratings of classroom behavior. When the 132 subjects were reexamined in 1988, impairment in neurobehavioral function was still found to be related to the lead content of teeth shed at the ages of six and seven. The young people with dentin lead levels greater than 20 ppm had a markedly higher risk of dropping out of high school (adjusted odds ratio, 7.4; 95 percent confidence interval, 1.4 to 40.7) and of having a reading disability (odds ratio, 5.8; 95 percent confidence interval, 1.7 to 19.7) as compared with those with dentin lead levels less than 10 ppm. Higher lead levels in childhood were also significantly associated with lower class standing in high school, increased absenteeism, lower vocabulary and grammatical-reasoning scores, poorer hand-eye coordination, longer reaction times, and slower finger tapping. No significant associations were found with the results of 10 other tests of neurobehavioral functioning. Lead levels were inversely related to self-reports of minor delinquent activity. We conclude that exposure to lead in childhood is associated with deficits in central nervous system functioning that persist into young adulthood.
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                Author and article information

                Journal
                Journal ID (nlm-ta): Interdiscip Toxicol
                Journal ID (iso-abbrev): Interdiscip Toxicol
                Journal ID (publisher-id): ITX
                Title: Interdisciplinary Toxicology
                Publisher: Slovak Toxicology Society SETOX
                ISSN (Print): 1337-6853
                ISSN (Electronic): 1337-9569
                Publication date (Print): June 2015
                Publication date (Electronic): June 2015
                Volume: 8
                Issue: 2
                Pages: 55-64
                Affiliations
                [1 ]Section of Genetics, Department of Zoology, Faculty of Life Science, Aligarh Muslim University, Aligarh, Utter Pradesh, India
                [2 ]Department of Forensic Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Jawaharlal Nehru Medical College and Hospital, Aligarh Muslim University, Aligarh, Utter Pradesh, India
                Author notes
                Correspondence address: Ab Latif Wani, Section of Genetics, Department of Zoology, Faculty of Life Science, Aligarh Muslim University, Aligarh, Utter Pradesh, 202002 India. E-MAIL: latifamu99@ 123456gmail.com
                Article
                Publisher ID: ITX-8-055
                DOI: 10.1515/intox-2015-0009
                PMC ID: 4961898
                PubMed ID: 27486361
                SO-VID: 91b639a4-029c-4455-a993-d88e7c9bb4ca
                Copyright © Copyright © 2015 SETOX & Institute of Experimental Pharmacology and Toxicology, SASc.
                License:

                This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

                History
                Date received : 23 January 2015
                Date revision received : 14 April 2015
                Date accepted : 17 April 2015
                Categories
                Subject: Review Article

                ScienceOpen disciplines: Toxicology
                Keywords: lead toxicity,lead poisoning,heavy metals,environmental health
                Data availability:
                ScienceOpen disciplines: Toxicology
                Keywords: lead toxicity, lead poisoning, heavy metals, environmental health

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