Correlates of bone and blood lead levels among middle-aged and elderly women. Am J Epidemiol 2002 Aug 15;156(4):335-43
Date
08/16/2002Pubmed ID
12181103DOI
10.1093/aje/kwf042Scopus ID
2-s2.0-0037103173 (requires institutional sign-in at Scopus site) 64 CitationsAbstract
In 1993-1995, the authors evaluated risk factors for elevated blood and bone lead levels in 264 Boston, Massachusetts, area women previously selected for a case-control study of lead and hypertension. Bone lead was measured at the tibia and patella with K x-ray fluorescence. Blood lead was analyzed by graphite furnace atomic absorption. Participants were aged 46-74 years and had mean lead levels of 3 (standard deviation, 2) micro g/dl (blood), 13 (standard deviation, 9) micro g/g (tibia), and 17 (standard deviation, 11) micro g/g (patella). In multivariate linear regression models, use of postmenopausal estrogen (inverse) and alcohol intake (positive) were significantly associated with blood lead levels. Both bone lead measures were significantly and positively associated with blood lead but only among postmenopausal women not using estrogen; for example, an increase from the first to the fifth quintile of tibia lead level (19 micro g/g) was associated with a 1.7- micro g/dl increase in blood lead (p = 0.0001) in this group. Older age and lower parity were associated with higher tibia lead; only age was associated with patella lead. The observed interaction of bone lead with estrogen status in determining blood lead supports the hypothesis that increased bone resorption, as occurs postmenopausally because of decreased estrogen production, results in heightened release of bone lead stores into blood.
Author List
Korrick SA, Schwartz J, Tsaih SW, Hunter DJ, Aro A, Rosner B, Speizer FE, Hu HAuthor
Shirng-Wern Tsaih Research Scientist II in the Obstetrics and Gynecology department at Medical College of WisconsinMESH terms used to index this publication - Major topics in bold
AgedAging
Bone Resorption
Estrogen Replacement Therapy
Estrogens
Female
Humans
Lead
Middle Aged
Parity
Patella
Postmenopause
Prospective Studies
Regression Analysis
Risk Factors
Tibia