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CDC Updates Blood Lead Reference Value to 3.5 µg/dL |
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Lowering the blood lead reference value (BLRV) paves the way for children with blood lead levels between 3.5 μg/dL and 5 μg/dL to receive prompt actions to mitigate health effects and control sources of exposure. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has updated its BLRV from 5 µg/dL to 3.5 µg/dL in response to the Lead Exposure Prevention and Advisory Committee (LEPAC) recommendation made on May 14, 2021. The BLRV is based on the 97.5th percentile of the blood lead level distribution among children 1 to 5 years old in the United States, from the two most recent cycles of data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES). Thus, based on NHANES data from 2015–2018, CDC accepted the LEPAC’s recommendation to update the BLRV to 3.5 μg/dL. CDC encourages healthcare providers to use the updated reference value to identify children at risk. CDC’s recommended actions based on blood lead level outline what you can do to treat children with blood lead levels that are higher than most U.S. children’s levels.
The following resources may provide some helpful information about the updated BLRV:
We invite you to share these updated resources with your partners and colleagues.
For questions or more information, contact LeadInfo@cdc.gov. |
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The Emergency Risk Communication Branch in the Division of Emergency Operations, Center for Preparedness and Response is responsible for the management of all COCA Products. For information about this update or other clinical issues, or to send your feedback, please contact us at coca@cdc.gov CDC Clinician Outreach and Communication Activity Facebook page—connect with COCA on Facebook Clinician Outreach and Communication Activity—resources for healthcare providers COCA RSS Feed—subscribe to be notified of conference calls, updates, and CDC guidance for health providers Crisis & Emergency Risk Communication Training—training program that draws from lessons learned during public health emergencies, and incorporates best practices from the fields of risk and crisis communication Health Alert Network—CDC's primary method of sharing cleared information about urgent public health incidents with public information officers; federal, state, territorial, and local public health practitioners; clinicians; and public health laboratories |
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