TABLE 2.
Number and percentage of adults with very high blood lead levels (BLLs ≥40 μg/dL), by industry subsector, and number and percentage by nonoccupational sources of exposure — Adult Blood Lead Epidemiology and Surveillance (ABLES) Program, United States, 2002–2011
| 40–59 μg/dL | ≥60 μg/dL | Total (≥40 μg/dL) | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
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| Characteristic | No. | (%) | No. | (%) | No. | (%) |
| Overall | 10,049 | (100.0) | 1,487 | (100.0) | 11,536 | (100.0) |
| Exposure type | ||||||
| Occupational | 6,330 | (63.0) | 746 | (50.2) | 7,076 | (61.3) |
| Nonoccupational | 497 | (4.9) | 166 | (11.2) | 663 | (5.7) |
| Unknown exposure source | 3,222 | (32.1) | 575 | (38.7) | 3,797 | (32.9) |
| Industry subsector [NAICS codes] | 6,330 | 746 | 7,076 | (100.0) | ||
| Manufacturing | 3,393 | (100.0) | 253 | (100.0) | 3,646 | (51.5) |
| Battery manufacturing [33591] | 1,671 | (49.2) | 70 | (27.7) | 1,741 | |
| Nonferrous metal production and processing [3313 and 3314] | 577 | (17.0) | 47 | (18.6) | 624 | |
| Foundries [3315] | 244 | (7.2) | 28 | (11.1) | 272 | |
| Fabricated metal product manufacturing [332] | 257 | (7.6) | 31 | (12.3) | 288 | |
| Other manufacturing industries | 644 | (19.0) | 77 | (30.4) | 721 | |
| Construction | 1,575 | (100.0) | 318 | (100.0) | 1,893 | (26.8) |
| Painting and wall covering contractors [23832] | 890 | (56.5) | 185 | (58.2) | 1,075 | |
| Highway, street, and bridge construction [23731] | 262 | (16.6) | 37 | (11.6) | 299 | |
| Site preparation contractors [23891] | 96 | (6.1) | 21 | (6.6) | 117 | |
| Other construction industries | 327 | (20.8) | 75 | (23.6) | 402 | |
| Services (except public safety) | 555 | (100.0) | 87 | (100.0) | 642 | (9.1) |
| Remediation services [56291] | 186 | (33.5) | 27 | (31.0) | 213 | |
| All other amusement and recreation industries [71399] | 102 | (18.4) | 17 | (19.5) | 119 | |
| Automotive repair and maintenance [8111] | 71 | (12.8) | 9 | (10.3) | 80 | |
| Other services industries | 196 | (35.3) | 34 | (39.1) | 230 | |
| Mining (except oil and gas extraction) | 428 | (100.0) | 16 | (100.0) | 444 | (6.3) |
| Lead ore and zinc ore mining [212231] | 418 | (97.7) | 14 | (87.5) | 432 | |
| Other mining industries | 10 | (2.3) | 2 | (12.5) | 12 | |
| Other/missing industry data | 379 | 72 | 451 | (6.4) | ||
| Nonoccupational exposures | 497 | (100.0) | 166 | (100.0) | 663 | (100.0) |
| Shooting firearms (target shooting) | 144 | (29.0) | 17 | (10.2) | 161 | (24.3) |
| Remodeling/renovation/painting | 89 | (17.9) | 22 | (13.3) | 111 | (16.7) |
| Complementary and alternative medicines (e.g., Ayurvedic medicines) | 31 | (6.2) | 28 | (16.9) | 59 | (8.9) |
| Eating food containing lead | 39 | (7.8) | 18 | (10.8) | 57 | (8.6) |
| Retained bullets (gunshot wounds) | 30 | (6.0) | 15 | (9.0) | 45 | (6.8) |
| Casting (e.g., bullets and fishing weights) | 33 | (6.6) | 6 | (3.6) | 39 | (5.9) |
| Pica (i.e., the eating of nonfood items) | 16 | (3.2) | 20 | (12.0) | 36 | (5.4) |
| Other or unknown nonoccupational source | 115 | (23.1) | 40 | (24.1) | 155 | (23.4) |
Abbreviation: NAICS = North American Industry Classification System.