March 31, 2010 – Even low levels of lead in the blood may be linked to a higher risk of depression and panic disorder, according to a US-Canada study1.
Researchers wanted to check the concentration of lead in the blood in young adults and the appearance of symptoms of 3 main psychiatric problems: depression, panic disorder and anxiety. The majority of studies on the effects of lead in adults have been conducted with occupational exposure to the metal and not – as this study was – at low levels of exposure.
They analyzed data collected from 1,987 American adults, aged 20 to 39, who participated in the National Survey of Health and Nutrition between 1999 and 2004.
Result: 134 individuals presented the diagnostic criteria for depression, 44 for panic disorder and 47 for anxiety disorders. Their average blood lead concentration was 1.61 µg / dl (microgram per deciliter of blood).
The subjects who had the highest concentration of lead, 2.11 µg / dl or more, were twice as likely to suffer from depression compared to the fifth of participants who had the lowest concentration of lead (0.7 µg / dl or less). And the risk was 5 times higher for panic disorder.
To refine their results, the study authors removed the 628 smokers from their sample, because smoking increases the concentration of lead in the blood. The risk in non-smokers between the highest and the lowest concentration of lead was multiplied by 2.5 for major depression and by 8 for panic disorder.
Maryse Bouchard, researcher
“Our results show that adults – representative of the general population – can be vulnerable even with a small concentration,” says Maryse Bouchard, lead author of the study and researcher at the Department of Environmental and Occupational Health at the Montreal university.
“There does not appear to be an ‘acceptable’ concentration of lead,” she continues. We already know that children are very vulnerable to lead exposure, which interferes with their intellectual development. There is also a blood lead monitoring program in children under 5 years of age in the United States which has set the limit at 10 µg / dl and less before acting. “
According to her, it is important that there be concrete and effective actions to take to reduce the presence of lead in the immediate environment of people, in particular by changing the connection pipes for drinking water in the houses where they are. lead.
Carole Boulé – PasseportSanté.net
New update April 6, 2010
1. Bouchard MF, Bellinger DC et al. Blood lead levels and major depressive disorder, panic disorder, and generalized anxiety disorder in US young adults, Arch Gen Psychiatry. 2009; 16 (12): 1313-1319.
