Risk of birth defects in a population exposed to environmental lead pollution.
Sci Total Environ
; 278(1-3): 23-30, 2001 Oct 20.
Article
in En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-11669270
ABSTRACT
To investigate the relation between environmental lead and risk of birth defects in humans, we examined the prevalence at birth of congenital anomalies in an industrial area of northern Italy heavily polluted with lead. Through a population-based registry of birth defects, we identified anomalies diagnosed during three consecutive periods characterized by decreasing environmental lead exposure, 1982-1986, 1987-1990 and 1991-1995. In the lead-polluted area, we observed an excess risk of cardiovascular defects which decreased from 2.59 [95% confidence interval (CI) 1.68-3.82] in the first period to 1.18 (95% CI 0.62-2.06) and 0.97 (95% CI 0.57-1.54) in the subsequent periods. We also found an excess risk of oral clefts and musculoskeletal anomalies, with decreasing trends over time. We could not identify homogeneous patterns of temporal variation for other congenital anomalies, neither did we detect cases of neural tube defects. These results appear to support an association between severe parental lead exposure and specific birth defects.
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Collection:
01-internacional
Database:
MEDLINE
Main subject:
Congenital Abnormalities
/
Environmental Exposure
/
Lead
Type of study:
Etiology_studies
/
Incidence_studies
/
Observational_studies
/
Prognostic_studies
/
Risk_factors_studies
Limits:
Female
/
Humans
/
Male
/
Newborn
Country/Region as subject:
Europa
Language:
En
Journal:
Sci Total Environ
Year:
2001
Document type:
Article