Environmental cigarette smoke exposure modulates IgE levels of Pb-exposed children.

In urban areas with a predominance of early to mid-20th century housing stock, islands of children possessing blood lead levels (PbB) in excess of CDC guidelines (>10μg/dL) exist. Many of these children are also exposed to environmental tobacco smoke (ETS). The current study examined the impact of Pb-exposure (PbB levels of 1-55μg/dL) with/without concurrent ETS exposure on immune system function in 318 children aged 6-84 months from the urban area of Springfield-Greene County, MO.