Lead exposure and intelligence in 7-year-old children: the Yugoslavia Prospective Study.

For a prospective study of lead exposure and early development, we recruited pregnant women from a lead smelter town and from an unexposed town in Yugoslavia and followed their children through 7 years of age. In this paper we consider associations between lifetime lead exposure, estimated by the area under the blood lead (BPb) versus time curve (AUC7), and intelligence, with particular concern for identifying lead's behavioral signature. The Wechsler Intelligence Scales for Children-Version III (WISC-III) was administered to 309 7-year-old children, 261 of whom had complete data on intelligence, blood lead, and relevant sociodemographic covariates (i.e., Home Observation for the Measurement of the Environment (HOME), birth weight, gender, sibship size, and maternal age, ethnicity, intelligence, and education). These showed anticipated associations with 7-year intelligence, explaining 41-4% of the variance in Full Scale, Performance, and Verbal IQ. Before covariate adjustment, AUC7 was unrelated to intelligence; after adjustment, AUC7 explained a significant 2.8%-4.2% of the variance in IQ. After adjustment, a change in lifetime BPb from 10 to 30 micro/dl related to an estimated decrease of 4.3 Full Scale IQ points; estimated decreases for Verbal and Performance IQ were 3.4 and 4.5 points, respectively. AUC7 was significantly and negatively related to three WISC-III factor scores: Freedom from Distractibility, Perceptual Organization, and Verbal Comprehension; the association with Perceptual Organization was the strongest. Consistent with previous studies, the IQ/lead association is small relative to more powerful social factors. Findings offer support for lead's behavioral signature; perceptual-motor skills are significantly more sensitive to lead exposure than are the language-related aspects of intelligence.     

4~5岁儿童气质特性与行为问题关系的分析

目的:探讨4~5岁儿童气质特性与行为问题关系,为行为问题的预防和干预提供依据。方法:采用《NYLS 3~7岁儿童气质问卷》、Achenhach儿童行为量表(CBCL)及父母养育方式评价量表(EMBU),对佛山市4~5岁468名儿童进行测试。结果:难养型男童的违纪、抑郁与难养型女童的多动、攻击、分裂问题检出率显著高于其他类型;气质各维度因子与一些行为因子存在显著性相关,多元回归分析表明:父亲惩罚、严厉,难养型气质及母亲情感温暖、理解对儿童行为问题有显著预测作用。结论:难养型气质,父亲惩罚、严厉是行为问题的危险因素,母亲情感温暖、理解则是保护因素;应根据儿童的气质特点,积极改善环境,采取适当的教养方法,以有效地防治儿童行为问题。     

学龄前儿童气质与行为的相关性研究

目的：探讨儿童气质与行为的相关性,预防儿童行为问题的发生。方法：采用分层整群抽样法,用NYLS《3－7岁儿童气质质量表》家长评定问卷（PTQ）,日本S－M社会适应能力量表,Achenbach儿童行为量表（CBCL）,父母养育方式评定量表（EMBU）,家庭环境量表中文版（FES－CV）和艾森格人格问卷（成人）对杭州市542例3－6岁入托儿童进行调查。结果：不同气质儿童社会适应能力无差异。启动缓慢型行为问题发生率最高18．18％,难养型12．07％,易养型8．57％。分裂强迫发生率各气质类型有明显差异（P＝0．0003）,启动缓慢型最高21．7％,其次为难养型11．4％。不同气质维度与行为存在一定的相关性。逐步回归分析,影响儿童行为的主要因素是家庭环境和父母养育方式。结论：启动缓慢型、难养型儿童易发生行为问题,但起主要作用的因素是家庭环境和父母养育方式,应重视此类儿童的教育及改善家庭环境。     

Modelling of environmental lead contributors to blood lead in humans

Summary The Second National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES II) is the only representative national study of body burden of lead where detailed concurrent information is available on a number of geographic and socio-economic factors. To date, however, reliable information on concurrent local environmental lead exposure for the sample has been lacking. In this study, we have identified and utilized previously unused concurrent lead exposure data. Our exposure data include time and region specific information on sales of lead from gasoline and ambient air-lead measurements from the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). In addition, we have included information on lead consumed in food from the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Our results indicate weak but significant associations between state sales of lead from gasoline and blood lead. In addition, we found a significant association between ambient air lead measurements and blood-lead concentrations. Socioeconomic factors and life-style factors were significantly related to blood lead, controlling for other possible confounders. Overall, our model explained 34% of the variance in blood-lead levels, which is a significant improvement compared to the maximum of 25% from other studies using the NHANES II data. The study substantiates prior findings that the majority of the variance in overall blood lead is significantly related to lead sources other than gasoline. From a public health perspective, it is therefore imperative that lead screening programs be continued and focused on multiple sources of lead, including lead in gasoline. The study supports prior findings of a continuous decrease in blood lead, independent of decreases of lead from gasoline. Moreover, we demonstrated the importance of other environmental and life-style-associated factors in predicting blood-lead levels. Further attention should be directed to assess other contributory sources of blood lead in addition to those used in this paper.     

Is Temperament or Behavior a Better Predictor of Preoperative Anxiety in Children?

The relation between parent-rated temperament and behavior and observer-rated child preoperative anxiety was examined in 61 children undergoing a day surgery procedure. Parents completed measures of child temperament and behavior prior to surgery. Child preoperative anxiety was observer-rated throughout the day surgery process. Results demonstrated that subscales of the child temperament measure had relatively lower internal consistencies. Subscales from measures of temperament and behavior showed the expected convergent validity in the assessment of inhibition and impulsive constructs, respectively. The anxious-shy subscale from the behavior measure was the only subscale that significantly predicted child anxiety at anesthetic induction (r = .24). Parent-rated measures of child behavior may be useful in identifying children at risk of developing preoperative anxiety.     

幼儿铅负荷来源及其对神经行为影响的研究

目的探讨铅吸收的来源及铅暴露对学龄前儿童的影响.方法随机整体抽取太原市居民区某幼儿园211名4～6岁幼儿为对照组,工业区某幼儿园同年龄组96名为观察组,用火焰和石墨炉原子吸收法,测定两幼儿园空气、土壤、饮水、手尘铅含量及幼儿末梢血铅值,采用Achenbach儿童行为量表(CBCL)及自拟调查表作问卷调查.结果观察组空气、土壤、手尘及血铅水平均显著高于对照组(P＜0.05),血铅与手尘铅显著正相关(r=0.3084,P＜0.05),观察组外向行为得分,行为问题发生率均显著高于对照组(P＜0.05).多元逐步回归分析表明不良的卫生习惯是影响血铅水平的首要因素,手一口接触是铅进入机体主要途径,血铅值进入攻击、多动、违纪的回归方程.结论不良的卫生习惯直接影响幼儿铅负荷水平,铅暴露对外向行为产生负性影响.     

Cognitive and temperament clusters in 3- to 5-year-old children with aggressive behavior

BACKGROUND: This study assessed the co-occurrence of cognitive problems and difficult temperament characteristics in children aged 3 to 5 years exhibiting aggressive behavior. METHODS: Thirty-one children with high ratings on the Aggressive Behavior subscale of the Achenbach Child Behavior Checklist or Teacher Report Form were recruited from a school district-based clinic. Cognitive ability and temperament were assessed with the Differential Ability Scales and the Carey Temperament Scales Behavioral Styles Questionnaire, respectively. Cluster analysis was applied to these variables. RESULTS: Three prominent groups of children sharing cognitive and temperament characteristics emerged. The first, comprising 41.9% of the sample, demonstrated low adaptability, low persistence, high activity, negative mood, and low rhythmicity, along with borderline-deficient cognitive scores. The second (38.7%) demonstrated low adaptability, low persistence, high activity, and negative mood, along with average cognitive scores. The third (19.4%) demonstrated essentially midrange temperament characteristics and average cognitive scores. All 3 groups shared temperamental tendencies toward a higher threshold of response. Most children in the sample also had significant sleep disturbances (54.5%), other health problems (63.6%), and/or suspected developmental problems (54.5%). CONCLUSIONS: The widespread presence of sleep, health, cognitive, temperament, and developmental problems in this sample supports the involvement of medical and developmental health experts in teams evaluating young children who present with high levels of aggressive behavior. The diverse nature of cognitive-temperament profiles in this sample also suggests a need to assess cognitive ability and temperament in young, aggressive children to provide individualized interventions.     

The Yugoslavia Prospective Study of environmental lead exposure.

The Yugoslavia Prospective Study of environmental lead exposure has studied the associations between exposure to lead and pregnancy outcomes; childhood neuropsychological, behavioral, and physical development; and hematologic, renal, and cardiovascular function. The cohort comprises 577 children born to women recruited at midpregnancy in two towns in Kosovo, Yugoslavia; one town is the site of a lead smelter, refinery, and battery plant and the other is 25 miles away and relatively unexposed. A sample of these children has been followed at 6-month intervals through 7.5 years of age. Blood lead concentrations ranged from 1 to 70 microg/dl. Exposure to lead was not associated with adverse pregnancy outcomes. Exposure was associated with modest decrements in intelligence, small increases in blood pressure, higher risks of proteinuria, small increases in behavior problems, and perturbed hematopoiesis. Only at low level exposures (i.e., <16 microg/dl) were small associations with decreased height found. We discuss methodological problems that may hinder causal interpretation of these data, namely, use of blood lead concentration as an exposure measure, confounding, and town-specific associations. We conclude that while reported associations are small, collectively they lend support to the notion that lead is a toxicant with numerous adverse health effects.     

反复呼吸道感染学龄前儿童气质与行为问题的研究

目的探讨反复呼吸道感染(RRTIs)学龄前儿童气质特征与行为问题的发生情况以及气质对行为的影响。方法在5所幼儿园选择4～5岁反复呼吸道感染学龄前儿童145名为研究组,同龄健康儿童244名作为对照组,采用"NYLS 3～7岁儿童气质问卷"和"Achenbach儿童行为量表父母问卷"进行儿童气质和行为测评。结果研究组气质类型中22.07%难养型高于对照组4.10%(P0.01);男童、女童的行为问题检出率研究组为29.11%、39.39%与对照组10.00%、14.92%比较,差异均有统计学意义(P0.01);难养型的行为问题检出率78.13%高于其他气质类型20.35%(P0.01),其男童间、女童间行为因子得分差异均有统计学意义(P0.05)。结论 RRTIs学龄前儿童的气质特点与正常儿童不同,难养型比例高于正常儿童,行为问题也更严重;难养型气质的儿童易发生行为问题。     

Some correlates of dieting behavior in Saudi schoolgirls

OBJECTIVES: The study examines the correlates of dieting behavior among Saudi schoolgirls. METHODS: Stratified cluster sampling was used to select female students from Grades 7 to 11 in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Subjects completed a sociodemographic data sheet and the Eating Disorders Inventory (EDI); their heights and weights were measured by a trained nurse. The total sample size was 1,271 students with a response rate of 92.76%. RESULTS: 15.9% scored positively on the EDI-Drive for Thinness subscale. Body mass index, speaking a Western language, and having lived in a Western country were the most significant personal factors associated with dieting behavior. Small family size and higher parental education and better occupation were significant family factors associated with dieting. DISCUSSION: Results reflect some culture-specific findings that are explained in cultural terms.