Blood Lead, Urinary Lead and Urinary δ-Aminolevulinic Acid Levels among Children Living in Kinshasa, D R Congo: A Pilot Biomonitoring Study,

Lead exists naturally in the earth's crust and it is widely used as a heavy metal. It is an environment toxicant that may deleteriously affect nervous, hematopoietic, skeletal, renal, endocrine and reproductive systems. So, exposure to lead in the environment continues to be a serious public health problem for all ages. Children are particularly susceptible to lead poisoning. They absorb more lead from their environment and their developing central nervous systems are vulnerable to the toxic. Fifty percent of children aged from 0 to 17-years-old presented blood lead levels above 100 μg/L and forty three percent of the same population presented blood lead levels above 50 μg/L. There was no correlation between urinary lead level and D-ALAU (urinary δ-aminolevulinic acid) with lead blood levels. But it was observed a small correlation between urinary lead and blood lead concentrations.