Blood lead level and its relationship to certain essential elements in the children aged 0 to 14 years from Beijing, China Original Research Article

Objective To investigate blood lead level and its relationship to copper, zinc, calcium, magnesium and iron in the children aged 0 to 14 years old from Beijing, China. Methods We classified 3181 children into one of the four groups: Group A (n = 783, < 1 year old); Group B (n = 1538, 1–3 years old); Group C (n = 443, 3–7 years old); and, Group D (n = 417, 7–14 years old). All these metal elements were determined by atomic absorption spectrometry. Results The blood lead level was 0.207 ± 0.105 μmol/L. There was a significant gender difference for zinc (P < 0.05) in Group C, and there was also a significant gender difference for copper (P < 0.05) and lead (P < 0.05) in Group D. Controlling for gender and age, we observed that there was a negative correlation of lead with zinc (r = − 0.052, P < 0.01), magnesium (r = − 0.042, P < 0.05) and iron (r = − 0.031, P < 0.05), respectively. Furthermore, in the children aged 1–7 years old, we also found there was a negative linear correlation of lead with zinc, magnesium and iron, respectively (P < 0.01). Conclusion Blood lead level in children from Beijing was markedly decreased. And deficiency of zinc, magnesium and iron is related to the elevated blood lead level in the children aged 1–7 years.