TITLE:
Relationships among Environmental Lead in Playground Soils and Dust and Blood Lead of Children in Muncie, Indiana, USA
AUTHORS:
Abdulgadir Elnajdi, Adam Berland, Carolyn Dowling, Jessi Haeft
KEYWORDS:
Heavy Metals, Public Health, Soil Contamination, Urban Parks, Health Risk Assessment
JOURNAL NAME:
Journal of Geoscience and Environment Protection,
Vol.11 No.10,
October
13,
2023
ABSTRACT: The present study was designed to assess lead levels in playground soil
and accumulated dust on playground equipment
and then correlate those environmental lead measurements with children’s
blood lead in the surrounding neighborhoods.
Soil lead and surface dust were collected from 14 playgrounds in Muncie,
Indiana, and blood lead levels were calculated for nearby children. Correlation
analyses revealed a moderate positive association between dust Pb and soil Pb
with a correlation coefficient r = 0.46 (p = 0.099). The relationship between settled dust on playground equipment and
composite blood lead level also showed a medium positive correlation, indicated
by r = 0.36 (p = 0.202). A positive
correlation was also observed between soil Pb and composite blood lead values,
as evidenced by r = 0.51 (p = 0.061).
Furthermore, the assessment of spatial autocorrelation using Moran’s I index
indicated no significant spatial clustering for the variables studied (dust Pb,
soil Pb, and blood Pb). Correlation analysis showed a connection between lead
levels in soil and dust, but no significant links were found between soil lead
and blood lead and between dust lead and blood lead. These results suggest that
environmental lead in parks has a limited impact on children’s blood lead
levels nearby. Spatial autocorrelation
analysis also revealed no significant spatial patterns among
variables—dust, soil, and blood lead. Given these findings, it is recommended to seek expertise from qualified
professionals and further perform
comprehensive testing and analysis to investigate potential lead sources
in children’s blood. The outcomes of this study offer valuable insights into assessing
playground environmental lead contamination, contributing to future research
priorities in this area. Specifically, future studies could focus on collecting
larger sample sizes and characterizing blood lead in children who frequently
use playgrounds rather than those who live nearby but may or may not use the
playgrounds.