Assessment of a Screening Questionnaire to Identify Exposure to Lead in Pregnant Women

Eléna Coiplet, Marine Freuchet, Claire Sunyach, Julien Mancini, Jeanne Perrin, Blandine Courbiere, Hélène Heckenroth, Christel Pissier, Naima Hamdaoui and Florence Bretelle
Additional contact information
Eléna Coiplet: Department of Gynecology-Obstetric and Reproductive Medicine, Women-Parents-Children Centre (Pôle Femmes-Parents-Enfants/Hôpital La Conception), 147 Boulevard Baille, 13005 Marseille, France
Marine Freuchet: Department of Gynecology-Obstetric and Reproductive Medicine, Women-Parents-Children Centre (Pôle Femmes-Parents-Enfants/Hôpital La Conception), 147 Boulevard Baille, 13005 Marseille, France
Claire Sunyach: Department of Gynecology-Obstetric and Reproductive Medicine, Women-Parents-Children Centre (Pôle Femmes-Parents-Enfants/Hôpital La Conception), 147 Boulevard Baille, 13005 Marseille, France
Julien Mancini: Department of Public Health, Aix-Marseille Univ, APHM, INSERM, IRD, SESSTIM, Hop Timone, BIOSTIC, (Biostatistiques et Technologies de L’information et de la Communication), 13005 Marseille, France
Jeanne Perrin: Department of Gynecology-Obstetric and Reproductive Medicine, Women-Parents-Children Centre (Pôle Femmes-Parents-Enfants/Hôpital La Conception), 147 Boulevard Baille, 13005 Marseille, France
Blandine Courbiere: Department of Gynecology-Obstetric and Reproductive Medicine, Women-Parents-Children Centre (Pôle Femmes-Parents-Enfants/Hôpital La Conception), 147 Boulevard Baille, 13005 Marseille, France
Hélène Heckenroth: Department of Gynecology-Obstetric and Reproductive Medicine, Women-Parents-Children Centre (Pôle Femmes-Parents-Enfants/Hôpital La Conception), 147 Boulevard Baille, 13005 Marseille, France
Christel Pissier: Pharmacokinetics and Toxicology Laboratory (Laboratoire de Pharmacocinétique et Toxicologie), AP-HM, 13005 Marseille, France
Naima Hamdaoui: Department of Gynecology-Obstetric and Reproductive Medicine, Women-Parents-Children Centre (Pôle Femmes-Parents-Enfants/Hôpital La Conception), 147 Boulevard Baille, 13005 Marseille, France
Florence Bretelle: Department of Gynecology-Obstetric and Reproductive Medicine, Women-Parents-Children Centre (Pôle Femmes-Parents-Enfants/Hôpital La Conception), 147 Boulevard Baille, 13005 Marseille, France

IJERPH, 2020, vol. 17, issue 24, 1-12

Abstract: Lead readily crosses the placenta and displays adverse effects on birth outcomes and neurodevelopment. Systematic identification of the risk of exposure during pregnancy is essential but rarely performed, probably due to hospital staff’s workload and their lack of awareness. We aimed to evaluate the relevance of a questionnaire to screen pregnant women for lead exposure. A cross-sectional, multicentre study was carried out on a population of 792 pregnant women from February 2018 to May 2020. A total of 596 women had a blood lead test: 68.5% had blood lead levels below 10 μg/L. The estimated prevalence above 25 µg/L was 4% (95% confidence interval (CI) [2.6–5.9]) and 1.3% had levels above 50 µg/L (95% CI [0.6–2.6]). Multivariate analysis showed that three risk factors significantly increased the probability of blood lead levels above 25 µg/L: the use of traditional cosmetics (adjusted odds ratio [aOR]: 3.90; 95% CI [1.65–9.21]; p = 0.002), degraded old housing (aOR: 2.67; 95% CI [1.19–6.038]; p = 0.018), and (marginally) eating bread more than twice a day (aOR: 2.40; 95% CI [0.96–6.11]; p = 0.060). Our study reveals that a three-question tool can be used to quickly screen for the risk of lead exposure in our population and to trigger lead blood tests and special vigilance during pregnancy follow-up.

Keywords: lead exposure; pregnancy; risk factors; environment (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
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