JAMA: Childhood lead exposure is associated with decreased brain structural integrity and cognitive ability in middle age

Many people born at the peak of leaded gasoline use have been exposed to lead in childhood, and lead interferes with brain development, although the long-term consequences of early exposure to lead are unclear, but studies have shown that exposure to lead in childhood is associated with adult IQ deficiencies.
cognitive decline has long been a risk factor for degenerative brain diseases, including dementia.
, however, it is not clear whether lead exposure in childhood is directly related to neurodegenerative changes in adults.
A new study published recently in JAMA validates the hypothesis that lead exposure in children is associated with lower structural integrity of the brain in middle age, and this longitudinal prospective cohort study of 564 middle-aged New Zealand-children showed a significant correlation between excessive lead exposure in childhood and MRI measurements of brain structure at age 45, including smaller cortical surface area, smaller hippocupus, lower overall heterogeneity scores, and lower brain aging.
participants were all members of the Dunedin study.
the entire queue included all those born in Danitin, New Zealand, between April 1972 and March 1973, who lived in the province and participated in the first assessment at the age of three.
the queue represents the full socio-economic status of the general population of New Zealand's South Island.
blood lead data from children was associated with MRI measurements of brain structural integrity and cognitive abilities at age 45.
study showed that 997 of the 1,037 original participants lived to be 45 years old, of whom 564 (57%) had been tested for lead at the age of 11 (302 men).
average blood lead level at age 11 was 10.99 (standard deviation, 4.63) sg/dL.
corrected covariates, children's blood lead levels increased by 5 μg/dL, with a decrease of 1.19-cm2 (95% CI, 2.35-0.02 cm) with corted surface area 2;P-0.05), sea-horse volume reduction 0.10-cm3 (95% CI, 0.17-0.03 cm3; P-0.006).
correlation between blood lead levels and the conversion of the high-strength volume or average cortical thickness of the white mass.
children's blood lead levels increased by 2.07 points (95% CI, 3.39-0.74; P-0.002) and cognitive problems scored significantly higher at 0.12 (95% CI, 0.01-0.23; P-0.03) for every 5 μg/dL increase in blood lead levels.
there was no statistically significant link between blood lead levels in children and self-reported cognitive problems (b-0.02; 95% CI was 0.10-0.07; P-0.68).
The relationship between blood lead levels in children and MRI measurements of structural integrity in the middle-age brain was consistent with limited available evidence linking blood lead exposure to brain morphology and function at age 45.
have not yet conducted a large-scale lead imaging assessment of children.
But an MRI study of about 10,000 children (with an average age of 10) found that children at highest risk of lead exposure (based on community poverty rates and age of residence) tended to have smaller cortical grayscale volumes, smaller cortical surface areas, and poorer cognitive test performance.
the study, children with high blood lead levels also had lower levels of objectively assessed cognitive abilities in middle age, reflecting a decline from childhood and a higher rate of daily cognitive problems.
The relationship between blood lead levels in childhood and cognitive decline at age 45 reinforced the need for long-term follow-up in groups of children who had been assessed for lead exposure, and few of those children had been assessed as adults.
: Reuben, A., Elliott, M.L., Abraham, W.C., Broadbent, J., Houts, R.M., Ireland, D., ... Moffitt, T. E. (2020). Association of Childhood Lead Exposure With MRI Measurements of Structural Brain Integrity in Midlife. JAMA, 324(19). doi:10.1001/jama.2020.19998。
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