Lead exposure sources and public health investigations for children with elevated blood lead in England, 2014 to 2022.

Background: Lead exposure at any concentration can adversely impact health, with children being more vulnerable to its effects. In England, children with an elevated blood lead concentration (BLC) are reported to Health Protection Teams (HPTs) for public health investigation. A detailed review of these cases has not yet been conducted.

'As safe as houses; the risk of childhood lead exposure from housing in England and implications for public health'.

Background And Aim: Exposure to lead can harm a child's health, including damage to the nervous system, delayed growth, hearing loss, and many other adverse health effects, as well as implications for social, economic, educational and social well-being. Lead exposure in children is still a concern and cases require public health management to find the exposure source and interrupt the exposure pathway. Housing characteristics can indicate the presence of lead-contaminated paint and leaded water supply pipes.

Case epidemiology from the first three years of a pilot laboratory-based surveillance system for elevated blood-lead concentrations among children in England, 2014-17: implications for public health action.

Background: Children incur lead toxicity even at low blood-lead concentrations (BLCs), and testing in England is opportunistic. We described epidemiology of cases notified to a passive laboratory-based surveillance system (SS), the Lead Poisoning in Children (LPIC) SS to inform opportunities to prevent lead exposure in children in England.

Methods: Surveillance population: children <16 years of age and resident in England during the reporting period September 2014-17.

Outdoor air pollution and infant mortality: analysis of daily time-series data in 10 English cities.

Background: There is growing concern that moderate levels of outdoor air pollution may be associated with infant mortality, representing substantial loss of life-years. To date, there has been no investigation of the effects of outdoor pollution on infant mortality in the UK.

Methods: Daily time-series data of air pollution and all infant deaths between 1990 and 2000 in 10 major cities of England: Birmingham, Bristol, Leeds, Liverpool, London, Manchester, Middlesbrough, Newcastle, Nottingham and Sheffield, were analysed.

Assessing and communicating risk with communities living on contaminated land.

The U.K. government has emphasized redeveloping derelict land for housing.

Preventing neural tube defects in Europe: a missed opportunity.

Each year, more than 4500 pregnancies in the European Union are affected by neural tube defects (NTD). Unambiguous evidence of the effectiveness of periconceptional folic acid in preventing the majority of neural tube defects has been available since 1991. We report on trends in the total prevalence of neural tube defects up to 2002, in the context of a survey in 18 European countries of periconceptional folic acid supplementation (PFAS) policies and their implementation.

Eye anomalies: seasonal variation and maternal viral infections.

Introduction: Eye anomalies, including anophthalmos and microphthalmos (absent eye and small eye), are common features in congenital infection syndromes such as rubella. Influenza, Coxsackie virus, and Parvovirus are less well-established teratogens. We report an ecologic analysis of anophthalmia/microphthalmia prevalence in England in relation to temporal variation in these infections using routine infection data.