Table 1.

Epidemiologic, clinical, and analytical data for the 81 individuals investigated.

	Siblings of deceased children	Siblings’ mothers	Other children	Other adults	Total	Total children	Total adults
No. of individuals	32	23	18	8	81	50	31
Age
Range	7 months–7 years	20–44 years	3 months–19 years	20–64 years	3 months–64 years	3 months–19 years	20–64 years
Mean ± SD	3 ± 2 years	32 ± 7 years	9 ± 6 years	38 ± 15 years	16.0 ± 15.5 years	5.2 ± 4.6 years	33.4 ± 10 years
Sex (male/female)	14/18	0/23	9/9	4/4	27/54	23/27	4/27
Gastrointestinal disorders (no.)	13	5	8	1	27	21	6
Anorexia	12	0	4	0	16	16	0
Colic	3	4	6	1	14	9	5
Vomiting	5	1	0	0	6	5	1
Neuropsychiatric disorders (no.)	13	1	4	2	20	17	3
History of convulsions	11	0	1	0	12	12	0
Irritability, anxiety, sleeping disorders	4	1	3	2	10	7	3
Behavioral and sociability disorders	3	0	3	0	6	6	0
Other symptoms (no.)
Headache	1	6	2	0	9	3	6
Neurologic signs (no.)	9	3	3	0	15	12	3
Apathy, lethargy	3	0	3	0	6	6	0
Abnormal examination (rot/Babinski, tone)	9	3	NA	NA	12	9	3
Psychomotor retardation	4	0	2	0	6	6	0
Major regression	2	0	2	0	4	4	0
Hematology (no.)
Anemia	29	3	11	1	44	40	4
Microcytic	18	3	6	0	27	24	3
Iron deficiency	3	3	4	1	11	7	4
Biochemistry
Creatinine concentration (no.)
Decreased	14	0	7	1	22	21	1
Elevated	2	1	1	0	4	3	1
Normal	16	22	10	7	55	26	29
Liver enzymes
AST concentration (no.)
Elevated	26	4	7	0	37	33	4
Normal	6	19	11	8	44	17	27
ALT concentration (no.)
Elevated	1	4	3	0	8	4	4
Normal	31	19	15	8	73	46	27
Blood lead levels
Range (μg/dL)	59.1–345.4	32.5–98.8	39.8–613.9	37.7–81.0	32.5–613.9	39.8–613.9	32.5–98.8
Mean ± SD (μg/dL)	138.0 ± 60.4	55.3 ± 19.8	114.3 ± 132.5	55.9 ± 17.8	101.1 ± 81.7	129.5 ± 92.4	55.5 ± 19.0
> 45 μg/dL (no.)	32	14	15	5	66	47	19
> 70 μg/dL (no.)	31	5	10	2	48	41	7

Abbreviations: NA, not available; rot, rotular reflex. “Children” has been defined as ≤ 19 years of age.