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APHA Scientific Session and Event Listing

Kristina Zierold, PhD, MS, Family and Community Medicine/Public Health Sciences, Wake Forest University School of Medicine, Medical Center Boulevard, Winston-Salem, NC 27157-1084, 336-716-2129, kzierold@wfubmc.edu, Henry Anderson, MD, Department of Environmental Health, Wisconsin Department of Health and Family Services, 1 West Wilson Street, Room 150, Madison, WI 27157, and Jeff Havlena, MS, Division of Environmental Health, Wisconsin Division of Health and Family Services, 1 West Wilson Street, Room 150, Madison, WI 27157.

To determine the length of time needed to make homes lead-safe in a population of children aged 0-6 years old with blood lead levels ≥ 20 µg/dL. Data for this study came from the Wisconsin Childhood Lead Poisoning Prevention Program's (WCLPPP) comprehensive blood lead surveillance system. Analysis was restricted to children whose first BLL test value during 1996-1999 was between 20 µg/dL and 40 µg/dL and for whom housing intervention data were available (n=382). The median length of time required to make a home lead-safe was 465 days. Only 18% of children lived in homes that were made lead-safe within six months. Forty-five percent of children lived in homes that required longer than 18 months to be deemed lead-safe. Efforts are needed to reduce lengths of times for making a home lead-safe. While abatement orders always include time limits, improved compliance with the orders must be enforced. Additionally, primary prevention efforts such as identifying lead-safe/lead-free housing that families can move into needs to become more common.

Learning Objectives:

• Identify the average length of time for homes to be considered lead-safe. 2.Evaluate factors that may be associated with needed time to make a home lead-safe of greater than 180 days. 3.Learn possible actions to decrease the amount of time necessary to make homes lead-safe.

Keywords: Child Health, Lead

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Any relevant financial relationships? No