Figure 15: Incidence Rates of Blood Lead Levels ≥ 10mcg/dL Among Children Under Age Six Years by Gender1; 1998 to 2005 Blood Lead Test Data, New York State Excluding New York City
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Figure 15 shows the rate of incidence of BLLs ≥ 10 mcg/dL among children under age six years, expressed as the number of children newly identified with BLLs ≥ 10 mcg/dL per 1,000 children tested, by gender and test year. This analysis was conducted to assess differences in the incidence of lead poisoning between boys and girls, and how those differences may be changing over time. Only blood lead test results that included information about the child's sex (97% of records) were included in this analysis
Overall, incidence rates have declined steadily for both boys and girls over time. In each year reported, boys had a slightly higher incidence rate than girls. In 2005, 12.4 of every 1,000 boys tested for lead were identified with BLLs ≥ 10 mcg/dL, compared to 11.3 of every 1,000 girls tested in the same year. These differences do not appear to be attributable to any differences in lead testing rates, as illustrated in Figure 5.
| Year of Test | Incidence Rates by Gender | |
|---|---|---|
| Male | Female | |
| 1998 | 30.3 | 27.4 |
| 1999 | 27.0 | 22.6 |
| 2000 | 21.3 | 18.7 |
| 2001 | 18.7 | 16.9 |
| 2002 | 17.6 | 15.1 |
| 2003 | 16.4 | 13.7 |
| 2004 | 13.7 | 13.0 |
| 2005 | 12.4 | 11.3 |
Footnotes
- Incidence Rate: The number of children under age six years identified for the first time with confirmed elevated blood lead levels divided by the number of children under age six that had screening tests in that given year and gender category, multiplied by 1,000. Note: Three percent (837) of the incident cases identified were not informative for gender and are not included in this graph.
