5.5 million died due to cardiovascular diseases caused by lead exposure in 2019; 95% impact in LMICs
Exposure to lead accounted for 30 per cent of all cardiovascular disease deaths globally in 2019, meaning about 5.5 million people, according to a study recently published in The Lancet Planetary Health journal.
Global lead exposure has health and economic costs on par with fine particulate matter 2.5 (PM2.5) air pollution, it further suggested.
The researchers used blood lead levels as an indicator to estimate the global heavy metal exposure from a 2019 Global Burden of Diseases, Injuries and Risk Factors study. However, nationwide measurements were not available for many countries.
Read more: Element of mystery: Lead poisoning is a huge public health concern for India; here’s why
Lead exposure affects poorer countries disproportionately, despite the phase-out of leaded petrol, the paper said. About 95 per cent of the health impacts were observed in people living in low- and middle-income countries (LMIC). Deaths from cardiovascular disease were six times higher in LMICs.
The average blood lead level in LMICs was 4.6 microgrammes per decilitre (μg/dL), compared with 1.3 μg/dL in high-income countries.
The exposure to the heavy metal also led to the loss of 765 million intelligence quotient (IQ) points in children under the age of five. IQ loss in LMICs due to lead exposure was nearly 80 per cent higher than a previous estimate — children in these countries lost an average of 5.9 IQ points.
In 2019, cardiovascular disease accounted for 94 per cent of mortality.
The study also calculated economic costs along with the health impacts of IQ loss in children and cardiovascular disease deaths in adults as a result of lead exposure. In 2019, lead exposure led to global losses worth $6 trillion, or seven per cent of the global gross domestic product (GDP).
The number was as high as 10 per cent of the GDP for LMICs in the same year.
Other than cardiovascular disease, exposure to the metal can also lead to chronic kidney disease and idiopathic developmental intellectual disability — meaning damage to the brain and lowering brain development.
Read more: A third of world’s children are poisoned by lead, says UNICEF report
Once lead enters the blood stream, it goes directly to the brain, particularly in children, because there is no specific blood-brain barrier for lead that can restrict movement of the metal, Down To Earth earlier reported.
Around one in three children worldwide record blood lead levels of over five μg/dL (the tolerable limit set by the World Health Organization), according to a 2020 report by the United Nations Children’s Fund and Pure Earth, a US-based environmental health non-profit.
Countries with the highest burden are Iran, Afghanistan, Yemen, Peru, Vietnam, the Philippines and parts of Central Africa.
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In 2019, cardiovascular disease accounted for 94 per cent of mortality. Photo: iStock.png)
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