| Specified blood lead level | 1988–1994 | 1999–2002 | 2003–2006 | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 10 µg/dL |
6.3 | 1.6 | 0.9a | |||
| 5 µg/dL |
25.6 | 8.7 | 4.1 | |||
| 2.5 µg/dL |
61.2 | 34.0 | 20.9 | |||
| a Estimate is unstable (relative standard error is greater than 30 percent but less than 40 percent). | ||||||
| NOTE: A blood lead level of 10 µg/dL or greater is considered elevated,1 but adverse health effects have been shown to occur at lower concentrations.2 | ||||||
| SOURCE: National Center for Health Statistics, National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. | ||||||
| 1 Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2002). Managing elevated blood lead levels among young children: Recommendations from the Advisory Committee on Childhood Lead Poisoning Prevention. Atlanta, GA. Available at http://www.cdc.gov/nceh/lead/CaseManagement/caseManage_main.htm | ||||||
| 2 Canfield, R.L., Henderson, C.R. Jr., Cory-Slechta, D.A., Cox, C., Jusko, T.A., and Lanphear, B.P. (2003). Intellectual impairment in children with blood lead concentrations below 10 microg per deciliter. New England Journal of Medicine, 348(16), 1517–1526. | ||||||
