Lead Removal Times Too Lengthy: Study

SUNDAY, Feb. 25 (HealthDay News) -- It takes an "unacceptable" length of time to remove lead hazards from homes after the threat has been detected, say the authors of study that looked at typical cases in Wisconsin.

Lead can harm a child's IQ and cause cognitive impairments, plus hearing and behavioral problems. In extreme cases, lead poisoning can cause death.

The four-year study (1996-1999) looked at 382 children, ages 6 months to 6 years, who had blood lead levels of 20 micrograms per deciliter or greater. In Wisconsin, these levels trigger an official lead hazard investigation of the children's homes.

In these cases, the median length of time to eliminate lead exposure in the children's homes was 465 days. Overall, 18 percent of homes were cleared of lead hazards within six months, while 46 percent took more than 18 months.

However, there were some signs of improvement during the study. It took a median of 828 days to clear lead hazards from homes in 1996, compared to 347 days in 1999.

The study also found that black children were nearly twice as likely as other children to live in homes that took longer than six months to be considered lead safe. This may be because many of the black children in the study lived in rental housing, where the landlord is responsible for dealing with lead hazards, said study lead author Kristina M. Zierold.

Zierold was an epidemic intelligence service officer with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention at the time of the study. She is currently an assistant professor in the department of family and community medicine at Wake Forest University School of Medicine in Winston-Salem, N.C.

"While our results apply only to Wisconsin, the fact that this was the first time anyone had studied the issue suggests that the problem may apply to other states," Zierold said in a prepared statement.

The study is published in this month's issue of the American Journal of Public Health.