Lead is a much greater health hazard for children and adults worldwide than previously thought. Dr. Bjorn Larsen, a Norwegian development economist, and Dr. Ernesto Sanchez Triana, an environmental expert from Colombia, in a presentation to the World Bank. Their work has been published in The Lancet Planetary Health.
Larsen and Sánchez-Triana report that the economic consequences of increased lead exposure are already immense, especially in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). The study received funding from the Korea Green Growth Trust Fund and the World Bank Environmental Health and Management Program.
Cognitive, cardiovascular effects
“It’s a very important publication that affects all of us,” German pediatrician Stephan Böse-O’Reilly, MD, of the Institute and Polyclinic for Occupational, Social, and Environmental Health at the Ludwig Maximilian University Hospital in Munich, Germany, told Medscape Medical News. “The study, the results of which I think are very reliable, shows that elevated blood lead levels have a much more drastic effect on children’s intelligence than we previously thought.”
Lead is known to affect children’s pre- and postnatal cognitive development, the doctor explained. However, the extent of this effect has been the subject of considerable underestimation until now.
On the other hand, Larsen and Sánchez-Triana’s work may prove that lead can lead to more cardiovascular disease in adulthood. “We already knew that increased exposure to lead increases the risk of high blood pressure and, as a result, mortality,” said Böse-O’Reilly. “This study now shows very clearly that the risk of arteriosclerosis, for example, is also increased by lead exposure.”