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APHA Scientific Session and Event Listing

Marie Lynn Miranda¹, Dohyeong Kim¹, M. Alicia Overstreet, BS¹, Andy Hull¹, and S. Philip Morgan, PhD². (1) Children's Environmental Health Initiative, Duke University, Box 90328, Durham, NC 27708-0328, 919-613-8023, mmiranda@duke.edu, (2) Sociology, Duke University, 344 Sociology/Psychology Building, Durham, NC 27708

The Children's Environmental Health Initiative (CEHI) at Duke University has partnered with the North Carolina Education Research Data Center (NCERDC) to explore the relationship between lead exposure and educational outcomes by linking end-of-grade test results and associated student data with early childhood blood lead screening results for nine North Carolina Counties. The study provides insights regarding the ability to link two large databases generated by two different offices of the State of North Carolina in the same populations but at different time periods. Lead surveillance is undertaken before age six, whereas end of grade testing in North Carolina begins in grade three (~ age 8-9).

The study analyzes the contribution of early childhood lead exposure on educational performance later in life. After controlling for a variety of sociodemographic variables, including parental education, household income (as measured by participation in the free/reduced lunch program), sex, and race and ethnicity, as well as county-level differences, we find that early lead exposure is significantly and negatively related to performance on end of grade exams. The detrimental effects of lead are more pronounced on reading, as opposed to math, scale scores, but are significant for both. Incorporating lead exposure attenuates some of the explanatory power typically attributed to race, income, and parental education variables.

Learning Objectives: At the conclusion of the session, participants will be able to

• Evaluate challenges of linking state-wide datasets collected separately for health surveillance and education administration purposes.
• Understand the effect of early childhood lead exposure on performance on end of grade tests later in life.
• Explore the attenuation of traditional explanatory variables with the incorporation of an environmental exposure variable.

Keywords: Education, Lead

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Any relevant financial relationships? No