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BMC Public Health
Published in: BMC Public Health 1/2017

Open Access 01-12-2017 | Research article

Anemia risk in relation to lead exposure in lead-related manufacturing

Authors: Nan-Hung Hsieh, Shun-Hui Chung, Szu-Chieh Chen, Wei-Yu Chen, Yi-Hsien Cheng, Yi-Jun Lin, Su-Han You, Chung-Min Liao

Published in: BMC Public Health | Issue 1/2017

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Abstract

Background

Lead-exposed workers may suffer adverse health effects under the currently regulated blood lead (BPb) levels. However, a probabilistic assessment about lead exposure-associated anemia risk is lacking. The goal of this study was to examine the association between lead exposure and anemia risk among factory workers in Taiwan.

Methods

We first collated BPb and indicators of hematopoietic function data via health examination records that included 533 male and 218 female lead-exposed workers between 2012 and 2014. We used benchmark dose (BMD) modeling to estimate the critical effect doses for detection of abnormal indicators. A risk-based probabilistic model was used to characterize the potential hazard of lead poisoning for job-specific workers by hazard index (HI). We applied Bayesian decision analysis to determine whether BMD could be implicated as a suitable BPb standard.

Results

Our results indicated that HI for total lead-exposed workers was 0.78 (95% confidence interval: 0.50–1.26) with risk occurrence probability of 11.1%. The abnormal risk of anemia indicators for male and female workers could be reduced, respectively, by 67–77% and 86–95% by adopting the suggested BPb standards of 25 and 15 μg/dL.

Conclusions

We conclude that cumulative exposure to lead in the workplace was significantly associated with anemia risk. This study suggests that current BPb standard needs to be better understood for the application of lead-exposed population protection in different scenarios to provide a novel standard for health management. Low-level lead exposure risk is an occupational and public health problem that should be paid more attention.
Appendix
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Metadata
Title
Anemia risk in relation to lead exposure in lead-related manufacturing
Authors
Nan-Hung Hsieh
Shun-Hui Chung
Szu-Chieh Chen
Wei-Yu Chen
Yi-Hsien Cheng
Yi-Jun Lin
Su-Han You
Chung-Min Liao
Publication date
01-12-2017
Publisher
BioMed Central
Published in
BMC Public Health / Issue 1/2017
Electronic ISSN: 1471-2458
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1186/s12889-017-4315-7

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