Even Moderate Blood Lead Levels Affect Children's Reading Skills

Exposure to certain heavy metals during the early stages of growth may interfere with a child's ability to perform at school later. Explaining this point, researchers found that children with high levels of lead in their blood have reduced reading readiness at kindergarten.

To analyze the link, Pat McLaine and team looked at 3,406 kindergarten children in Providence, Rhode Island. The Phonological Awareness Literacy Screening - Kindergarten (PALS-K ) instrument, a tool used to measure children's understanding of sounds, words and reading skills, was used to measure reading readiness of the participants. Researchers used health records from state departments to collect information about lead levels in the participants, Examiner.com reported.

Nearly 67 percent of the participants had one blood level above 5 µg/dL and 20 percent had one blood lead level above 10 µg/dL, website 2minute medicine reported. At the end of the study, researchers found that children with blood lead levels between 5 µg/dL and 9 5 µg/dL were 1.21 times less likely to meet the national benchmark for reading readiness.

"These results suggest that lead exposure at levels well below 10 µg/dL contributes to decreased reading readiness at kindergarten entry," Health Day quoted the authors as writing. "Future evaluation of student performance on end-of-grade tests later in elementary school (third and fourth grades) in this diverse cohort could help us to better understand the long-term impacts of both kindergarten reading readiness and childhood lead exposure on school success."

The findings, reported in the online issue of the journal Pediatrics Monday, May 13, come at a time when one in 38 children are affected with lead poisoning in the country. According to health experts from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), lead poisoning can cause severe health problems in children by affecting the function of every system of the body. High levels of lead exposure can lead to coma, convulsions and even death. Low levels of lead exposure are associated with low intelligence levels. Apart from that, according to a study published in Environmental Health Perspectives in September 2012, children with even moderate levels of lead were at a four time higher risk of developing attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) compared to children with low levels.

The lead-based paint used until 1978 was banned later, after finding the risks. Citing the risks associated with high lead exposure in children in May last year, CDC lowered the lead levels from 10 micrograms per deciliter to 5 micrograms.