Blood lead levels and kidney function among adolescents in Duhok

الملخص EN

Background and Objectives The adverse association between low-level lead exposure and kidney function has attracted much attention .The aim of this study was to examine the association between blood lead levels and kidney function in a sample of adolescents in Duhok, Iraq.

Methods A cross-sectional study was conducted by estimating blood lead levels, serum creatinine and creatinine- estimated Glomerular Filtration Rate (GFR) among 837 adolescents randomly selected from intermediate and secondary schools.

Results Mean blood lead level in the overall adolescents was 3.550.98 ug/dl and mean serum creatinine level was 0.720.07mg/dl.

Mean creatinine-estimated GFR was106.477.39 ml/min/1.73m2.

Adolescents with blood lead levels of >5 ug/dl had 101.664.32 ml/min/1.73m2 lower creatinine-estimated GFR compared with those with lead levels <3 ug/dl (109.426.78 ml/min/1.73m2), P<0.001.

Blood lead levels were inversely correlated with creatinine-estimated GFR (r= - 0.38, P=0.001) and positively with serum creatinine (r= 0.25, p=0.01) for all adolescents.

Conclusion Our results indicate that the higher blood lead levels in a range below the acceptable limit reported by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (10 ug/dl) were associated with a lower creatinine-estimated GFR.

Environmental factors has been hypothesized to contribute to this burden