The social costs of childhood lead exposure in the post-lead regulation era.

Full Abstract

OBJECTIVE: To estimate the benefits that might be realized if all children in the United States had a blood lead level of less than 1 microg/dL. DESIGN: Data were obtained from published and electronic sources. A Markov model was used to project lifetime earnings, reduced crime costs, improvements in health, and reduced welfare costs using 2 scenarios: (1) maintaining the status quo and (2) reducing the blood lead level of all children to less than 1 microg/dL. PARTICIPANTS: The cohort of US children between birth and age 6 years in 2008, with economic and health outcomes projected for 65 years. INTERVENTIONS: Increased primary prevention efforts aimed at reducing lead exposure among children and pregnant women. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Societal costs and quality-adjusted life years (QALYs) gained. RESULTS: Reducing blood lead levels to less than 1 microg/dL among all US children between birth and age 6 years would reduce crime and increase on-time high school graduation rates later in life. The net societal benefits arising from these improvements in high school graduation rates and reductions in crime would amount to $50 000 (SD, $14 000) per child annually at a discount rate of 3%. This would result in overall savings of approximately $1.2 trillion (SD, $341 billion) and produce an additional 4.8 million QALYs (SD, 2 million QALYs) for US society as a whole. CONCLUSION: More aggressive programs aimed at reducing childhood lead exposure may produce large social benefits.

Author information

Author/s: Muennig, Peter (P);

Affiliation: Department of Health Policy and Management, Mailman School of Public Health, Columbia University, 600 W 168th Street, New York, NY 10032, USA. pm124(-atsign-)columbia.edu

Journal and publication information

Publication Type: Journal Article; Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

Journal: Archives of pediatrics & adolescent medicine (Arch Pediatr Adolesc Med), published in United States. (Language: eng)

Reference: 2009-Sep; vol 163 (issue 9) : pp 844-9

Dates: Created 2009/09/08; Completed 2009/10/08;

PMID: 19736339, status: MEDLINE (last retrieval date: 10/8/2009, IMS Date: )

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