The 130th Annual Meeting of APHA

Abstract #44464

Richard E Tobin, MS, MPA, Childhood Lead Poisoning Prevention Program, Philadelphia Department of Public Health, 2100 W Girard Ave, PNH #3, Philadelphia, PA 19130, 215-685-2788, Richard.Tobin@Phila.gov

Childhood lead poisoning has historically been identified with low social and economic status and old, deteriorated housing in areas of large old cities often known as the "Lead Belt". In Philadelphia the most clearly defined "Lead Belt" extended across the city just north and west of the city center. The prevalence of childhood lead poisoning has decreased steadily in Philadelphia over the last nine years but in spite of the gains that have been made some areas of the City continue to have a serious problem. Evaluating data at the zip code or even at the Census Tract level still shows a continuous "Lead Belt" across North and West Philadelphia. A much different picture is seen at the Census block group level. Geographic Information System (GIS) software (ArcView 3.2) was used to associate children screened in the Childhood Lead Poisoning Prevention Program (CLPPP) database with Census Block Groups.. Evaluation of the prevalence of screening tests with a blood lead >9ug/dL by block group and the geometric mean blood lead level for the block group revealed that many census tracts that appear to be relatively high risk contain one or two extremely high risk block groups while the rest of the Block Groups are relatively low risk. Geometric mean blood lead levels can vary by as much as three Standard Deviation units between adjacent block groups. The ability to target the highest risk areas allows the CLPPP to better utilize its limited resources and may have implications for housing policy and programs.

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