Blood Lead Concentrations and Mortality in Korean Adults: the Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey with Mortality Follow-Up

Garam Byun, Sera Kim, Soo-Yeon Kim, Dahyun Park, Min-Jeong Shin, Hannah Oh and Jong-Tae Lee
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Garam Byun: Department of Public Health Science, Graduate School, Korea University, Seoul 02841, Korea
Sera Kim: Interdisciplinary Program in Precision Public Health, Korea University, Seoul 02841, Korea
Soo-Yeon Kim: Department of Public Health Science, Graduate School, Korea University, Seoul 02841, Korea
Dahyun Park: Interdisciplinary Program in Precision Public Health, Korea University, Seoul 02841, Korea
Min-Jeong Shin: Interdisciplinary Program in Precision Public Health, Korea University, Seoul 02841, Korea
Hannah Oh: Interdisciplinary Program in Precision Public Health, Korea University, Seoul 02841, Korea
Jong-Tae Lee: Interdisciplinary Program in Precision Public Health, Korea University, Seoul 02841, Korea

IJERPH, 2020, vol. 17, issue 18, 1-12

Abstract: Previous studies have consistently reported an increase in mortality risk, even at low levels of blood lead. The average blood lead concentration in the Korean population has steadily decreased but is still higher than that of developed countries. The purpose of this study was to examine the associations between mortality and blood lead concentrations for adults in Korea. We used the Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (2008–2013) linked Cause of Death data, which are followed by 2018. A total of 7308 subjects who aged over 30 at the baseline examination were included in the analyses. Cox proportional hazard model was used to estimate the hazard ratios of mortality from non-accidental causes and cancer mortality. The estimated hazard ratios (95% CI) for comparison of the second and third tertile group with the lowest tertile group were 2.01 (1.20, 3.40) and 1.91 (1.13, 3.23) for non-accidental mortality and 3.42 (95% CI: 1.65, 7.08) and 2.27 (95% CI: 1.09, 4.70) for cancer mortality, respectively. The dose–response relationship also showed significant increase in the risk of mortality at blood lead level between 1.5 and 6.0 μg/dL. Our findings suggest that potent policies to lower lead exposure are required for the general Korean population.

Keywords: blood lead; mortality; cancer; KNHANES (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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