Lead and kindergarten reading readiness: Using community data providers to examine linkages between child health and educational outcomes

Community data providers have access to and are using population data for community planning and evaluation. Many are in a unique position to link population level data (e.g. birth, surveillance and educational data) at the individual level in order to investigate associations between reported health information and outcomes occurring later in life. By linking data at the individual level and de-identifying data prior to making it available to others for analysis, individual rights and confidentiality under FERPA and HIPPA regulations are protected. In addition, community data providers are able to easily use their expertise with GIS to highlight the power of place by geo-mapping relationships of both exposure (such as lead, poverty, low education) and health or educational outcomes (such as premature birth, reading readiness) with spatial location. We will highlight methodology and findings from a recent study investigating the relationship between blood lead levels (BLLs) and kindergarten reading readiness in 3,406 children living in Providence, Rhode Island. The study found that children whose BLLs were 5-9 and 10+ug/dL were 1.44 and 2.51 times more likely to fail to achieve the fall benchmark for reading readiness, compared to children whose BLLs were 0-4ug/dL. At the end of kindergarten, children who had scored below fall benchmark and who had BLLs ≥5ugdL were approximately 1.5 times more likely to fail to achieve the spring reading readiness benchmark compared to children with BLLs<5ug/dL. For children who achieved the fall benchmark, BLLs were not associated with an increased risk of failure in the spring.