Objective: The effect of lead on blood pressure remains controversial in spite of the numerous studies which have been conducted in the recent years. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effects of exposure to lead on blood pressure among non-smokers. Methods:In this cross sectional study, 1416 male and female non-smokers were enrolled, aged 20 years or older, from the Korean National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey 2008. Blood pressure, blood lead levels (BLLs), height, weight, and cotinine level were measured for all subjects.Results: Geometric mean BLLs of the participants was 2.20 µg/dl. BLLs were higher in the older, male, and lower education groups than the younger, female and higher education groups. After adjusting for age, sex, education and BMI through multiple regression analysis, a significant positive association between systolic blood pressure (p = 0.0357), diastolic blood pressure (p = 0.0111) and BLLs. Also, among the normal BMI group (18.5 kg/m 2 < BMI < 25 kg/m 2 ), we also found a significant positive association between diastolic blood pressure and BLLs (p = 0.0370). Conclusion:The present study showed that blood lead serves as a good predictor of blood pressure changes and that there was a statistically significant association between blood lead and blood pressure, especially diastolic blood pressure.

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