Occupational lead toxicity in battery workers

Objective: to estimate blood lead level (bll) and to assess the features of lead toxicity among lead acid battery (lab) industrial workers. methods: this prospective study was carried out in the medical centre of pcsir laboratories, karachi from march 2012 – march 2013. fifty lab industry workers, males and females between 17-65 years were included in the study. they were divided into group 1 with 40 workers- directly related and group 2 with 10 workers –indirectly related, (administration staff members) to lab manufacture. detailed history, complete physical examination and bll estimation by flameless atomic absorption spectrophotometer was done. results: total 34 patients in group 1 and 3 patients in group 2 had elevated bll. comparison of group 1 and 2 revealed anemia (40v/s4), bone pain (38v/s7), abdominal pain (38 v/s 2), nausea (32v/s6), head ache & irritability (24v/s6), weakness & lethargy (21v/s6), tremors (13v/s0) insomnia (5v/s4), lead line (4v/s 0) and blood pressure above 140/90 mm of hg (12v/s0) respectively. conclusion: high blood lead level and features attributable to lead toxicity were prevalent among lab industry workers of karachi.