Lead poisoning of occupational origin in Hungary in years 1960s and 1990s

M. Lászlóffy, M. Écsy, T. Kákosy

National Institute of Occupational Health, Budapest, Hungary

CEJOEM 1997, Vol.3. No.4.:330

Authors compared the number and severity of the professional lead poisoning in years 1960s and 1990s on the ground of data of two five-years periods. The number of the examined persons because of suspicion of lead poisoning were 263 in the sixties, but 57 in the nineties. The findings were negative in two cases (0.76%) in the first period, but in 16 persons (28.1%) in the second one. Increased lead resorption (without symptoms and signs) was observed in 72 persons (27.3%) in the earlier, but in 21 one (36.8%) in the later period. Intoxication was diagnosed in 189 patients (71.8%) in the 1st, but in 20 ones (35.1%) in the 2nd period. Lead colic occured in 45 patients (17.1%) in the sixties, but in 3 patients (5.6%) in the nineties. The number of anemic patients was 143 (54.4%) and 9 (15.8%) respectively. The mean value of EDTA mobilization test was 3166 in the 1st, but 2495 µg/l in the 2nd one. The mean dose of the CaNa2EDTA needed to the detoxication was 28,6 g in the sixties, but 18,4 g in the nineties. The results show that the number and severity of the lead poisoning of occupational origin decreased substantially during the examined 30-years period in Hungary because of the improvement of hygienic conditions and the biological monitoring performed systematically.

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