Riphah International University, Islamabad, Pakistan.

Objective: To determine blood lead level in young children visiting tertiary care hospitals. Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted from February to April 2015 at Khyber Teaching Hospital, Kuwait Teaching Hospital and Siffat Ghayoor Memorial Children's Hospital, Peshawar, Pakistan, and comprised children aged1-10 years. Purposive sampling technique (non-probability) was used. SPSS 17 was used for data analysis. Charts were made in Microsoft Excel 2007. Results: Of the 100 children in the study, 79(79%) had lead present in their blood, while 21(21%) had no traces whatsoever. Of those who had lead in their blood, 5(6%) showed blood lead level of above 1 mg/dL. The overall mean blood lead level was 0.344± 0.05 mg/dL. There was significance association between lead level and the residential areas of participants (p<0.05). Conclusion: Lead was found in the blood of children aged 1-10 years and was significantly related to the place of residence. Age and gender had no relation with blood lead levels.

Article: Original Article

Keywords:

Humans.
Cross-Sectional Studies.
Prevalence.
Lead.
Pilot Projects.
Tertiary Care Centers.
Pakistan.
Kuwait.
Hospitals, Teaching.

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