Correlation between blood lead levels and anaemia in commercial enamel paint industry workers

Background: lead causes acute,sub-acute or chronic poisoning through occupational exposure along with decrease in some trace elements like iron,whose absorption,distribution,metabolism and elimination being affected. iron deficiency is a serious problem especially in developing countries and lead toxicity can augment anaemia directly by decreasing absorption of iron and also by inhibiting enzymes of heme synthesis. aim and objectives: to assess haematological indices and serum iron and ferritin levels in enamel paint industry workers who are exposed to very high lead levels due to their occupation,and determine iron deficiency anaemia. materials and methods: blood lead concentration was measured by atomic absorption spectrophotometric (aas) method. haematological tests were performed using cell counter to measure haemoglobin,red blood cell and white blood cell count,etc. mean corpuscular volume,mean corpuscular haemoglobin and mean corpuscular haemoglobin concentration were calculated. serum ferritin and iron levels were assayed by chemilumenescence and spectrophotometric methods respectively. results: all the parameters measured and calculated were found to be altered in paint workers as compared to healthy controls,with significant increase in blood lead level and decrease in the haematological as well as other analyte values. conclusion: there seems to be a direct relationship between chronic lead exposure and the haematological disturbances,resulting in iron deficiency anaemia. hence awareness about this association should be increased and protective measures should be implied accordingly. © journal of krishna institute of medical sciences university.