[Social conditions of the exposure to environmental lead observed in children from Piekary Slaskie].

The aim of the paper was to evaluate the social conditions of the exposure to environmental lead observed in children from Piekary Slaskie, the patients of The Environmental Health Outpatient Department. The examinations were conducted in 1995, in 183 children: 95 (52%) girls and 88 (48%) boys, which is 5.3% of the total population of children aged 3-12 living in the districts of Piekary Slaskie with the higher risk of lead intoxication: Brzeziny Slaskie, Dabrówka Wielka and Brzozowice-Kamień. The examinations were conducted in the period of April and May. They comprised the following parameters: environmental and paediatric interview, physical examination--evaluation of total condition of the child, and laboratory determination of lead concentration in blood with the method of atomic flameless spectrophotometry. The collected data was statistically elaborated with the use of the "STATISTICA 5.1 PL" programme in the Computer Laboratory at the Silesian Engineering College in Katowice. In 1995 the average lead concentration in blood of 183 children from Piekary Slaskie aged 3-12 ranged from 2.2 to 39.6 microg/dl, and the average population concentration was of 8.22 microg/dl SD: 4.7 microg/dl. Significantly higher average lead concentration in blood was observed in nursery children aged 3-4 (9.56 microg/dl SD: 4.2 microg/dl) when compared to school children (7.4 microg/dl SD: 3.8 microg/dl). In the examined population 19.8% of children crossed the level of 10.0 microg/dl. The conclusions of the examinations may be as follows: bad social-economic conditions (especially unemployment and pathology of families), hygienic customs and nutrition habits of the native population of Piekary Slaskie as well as only the primary or professional education of parents influence the rise in average lead concentration in blood at nursery and school children.