To study the associations of prenatal blood lead levels (B-Pb) with pregnancy outcomes in a large cohort of mother–child pairs in the UK.
Whole blood samples were collected and analysed by inductively coupled plasma dynamic reaction cell mass spectrometry ( n = 4285). Data collected on the infants included anthropometric variables and gestational age at delivery. Linear regression models for continuous outcomes and logistic regression models for categorical outcomes were adjusted for covariates including maternal height, smoking, parity, sex of the baby and gestational age.
Birthweight, head circumference and crown–heel length, preterm delivery and low birthweight.
The mean blood lead level (B-Pb) was 3.67 ± 1.47 μg/dl. B-Pb ≥ 5 μg/dl significantly increased the risk of preterm delivery (adjusted odds ratio [OR] 2.00 95% confidence interval [95% CI] 1.35–3.00) but not of having a low birthweight baby (adjusted OR 1.37, 95% CI 0.86–2.18) in multivariable binary logistic models. Increasing B-Pb was significantly associated with reductions in birth weight ( β −13.23, 95% CI −23.75 to −2.70), head circumference ( β −0.04, 95% CI −0.07 to −0.06) and crown–heel length ( β −0.05, 95% CI −0.10 to −0.00) in multivariable linear regression models.