Problem of estimating respiratory lead dose in children.

Children may be exposed to lead in their environment by a variety of mechanisms, but the final two common pathways involve ingestion and/or inhalation. The serious public health problem of overt lead intoxication from eating lead-based paint has tended to obscure low level toxicity which may be related to atmospheric lead pollution. No data exist which relate potential body burden or blood lead levels in children to ambient air lead levels. Extrapolation from respiratory lead uptake kinetics in adults is complicated by the differences in respiratory physiology, metabolism, and body compartment sizes existing between children and adults. These differences and models from pediatric pharmacology have been used to approach the problem of predicting respiratory lead dose in children from data based on adult uptake studies.