An evaluation of the Illinois lead program ‘s goal to eliminate childhood lead poisoning: 1995 to 2010

This paper evaluates the outcomes of the Illinois Lead Program (ILP) using the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) framework for program evaluation in public health. The program was funded by the CDC as well as Illinois State funding. ILP was committed to the Healthy People 2010 goal of eliminating elevated blood levels (10 micrograms or more per deciliter) in children under the age of six years. The Illinois Department of Public Health entered into grant agreements with 83 delegate agencies (local health departments) to provide case management care for lead poisoned children in 91 of 102 counties. The program used lead surveillance data from 1995 to 2010 to measure incidence and prevalence of elevated blood lead levels among children screened for lead poisoning, and also used matched data from the Medicaid enrolled children. A comparison of the incidence and prevalence of lead poisoning has been made between Medicaid and non-Medicaid children. The analysis was done for all of Illinois including Chicago. There has been significant decline in lead poisoning among the screened children between 1995 and 2010. In 1996, 26.3 percent of the screened children enrolled in the Medicaid program and 20.8% of the screened children not enrolled in the Medicaid program had elevated blood lead levels. The corresponding percents for 2010 were 1.6 and 1.3. Also significant disparities existed by age, age of housing and race and ethnicity. We hope that lessons learned from this project can be used in other similar projects including the Healthy Homes project the goal, which is to identify, eliminate or mitigate health and safety issues in the home environment.