ArticleInternational journal of environmental research and public health2016
The Impact of Low-Level Lead Toxicity on School Performance among Hispanic Subgroups in the Chicago Public Schools.
Article in International journal of environmental research and public health, 2016. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 11 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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Who cites it
11 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 24 citations in OpenAlex.
- Association between Maternal Lead Exposure from Seafood Consumption and Neurodevelopment: A Systematic Review.Advances in nutrition (Bethesda, Md.) · 2025Pooled it
- Influences of quality of maternal care and environmental enrichment on associative memory function in rats with early life lead exposure.Brain and behavior · 2024Article
- Blood lead levels and math learning in first year of school: An association for concern.Environmental research · 2024Article
- Effect of Environmental and Socioeconomic Factors on Increased Early Childhood Blood Lead Levels: A Case Study in Chicago.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2024Article
- Lead contamination of public drinking water and academic achievements among children in Massachusetts: a panel study.BMC public health · 2022Article
- Pesticide exposure among Latinx children: Comparison of children in rural, farmworker and urban, non-farmworker communities.The Science of the total environment · 2021Article
- Article
- Intelligence gain and social cost savings attributable to environmental lead exposure reduction strategies since the year 2000 in Flanders, Belgium.Environmental health : a global access science source · 2019Article
- Improving and Expanding Estimates of the Global Burden of Disease Due to Environmental Health Risk Factors.Environmental health perspectives · 2019Article
- A Review of the Field on Children's Exposure to Environmental Contaminants: A Risk Assessment Approach.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2017Review
- Children's Exposure to Environmental Contaminants: An Editorial Reflection of Articles in the IJERPH Special Issue Entitled, "Children's Exposure to Environmental Contaminants".International journal of environmental research and public health · 2016Article
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Authors and funding
7 authors at 4 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundEnvironmental lead exposure detrimentally affects children's educational performance, even at very low blood lead levels (BLLs). Among children in Chicago Public Schools (CPS), the severity of the effects of BLL on reading and math vary by racial subgroup (White vs. Hispanic vs. non-Hispanic Black). We investigated the impact of BLL on standardized test performance by Hispanic subgroup (Mexican, Puerto Rican, and Other Hispanic).
methodsWe examined 12,319 Hispanic children born in Chicago between 1994 and 1998 who were tested for BLL between birth and 2006 and enrolled in the 3rd grade at a CPS school between 2003 and 2006. We linked the Chicago birth registry, the Chicago Blood Lead Registry, and 3rd grade Illinois Standard Achievement Test (ISAT) scores to examine associations between BLL and school performance. Primary analyses were restricted to children with BLL below 10 µg/dL (0.483 µmol/L).
resultsBLLs below 10 µg/dL (0.483 µmol/L) were inversely associated with reading and math scores in all Hispanic subgroups. Adjusted Relative Risks (RRadj) and 95% confidence intervals (CI) for reading and math failure were 1.34 (95% CI = 1.25, 1.63) and 1.53 (95% CI = 1.32, 1.78), respectively, per each additional 5 µg/dL of lead exposure for Hispanic children; RRadj did not differ across subgroups. We estimate that 7.0% (95% CI = 1.8, 11.9) of reading and 13.6% (95% CI = 7.7, 19.2) of math failure among Hispanic children can be attributed to exposure to BLLs of 5-9 µg/dL (0.242 to 0.435 µmol/L) vs. 0-4 µg/dL (0-0.193 µmol/L). The RRadj of math failure for each 5 µg/dL (0.242 µmol/L) increase in BLL was notably (p = 0.074) stronger among black Puerto Rican children (RRadj = 5.14; 95% CI = 1.65-15.94) compared to white Puerto Rican children (RRadj = 1.50; 95% CI = 1.12-2.02).
conclusionsEarly childhood lead exposure is associated with poorer achievement on standardized reading and math tests in the 3rd grade for Mexican, Puerto Rican, and Other Hispanic children enrolled in Chicago Public Schools. While we did not see interactions between BLL and ISAT performance by Hispanic subgroup, the stronger association between BLL and math failure for Black Puerto Rican children is intriguing and warrants further study.
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