At a glance
Childhood blood lead surveillance systems at the state level (and local jurisdictions with public health surveillance authority) integrate information from several sources. This includes childhood lead poisoning prevention programs, public and private laboratories, and information from health, environmental, and housing agencies.
Background
States maintain their own child-specific databases in order to identify duplicate test results or sequential test results on individual children.
These databases contain follow-up data on children with higher blood lead levels. This includes data on medical treatment, environmental investigations, and potential sources of lead exposure. States extract data on designated variable fields from their child-specific surveillance databases and de-identify the data before transferring records to CDC.
Objectives of childhood lead poisoning surveillance programs at the state and local levels are to:
- Identify children at risk for lead exposure to focus testing and follow-up resources.
- Focus on geographic areas at higher risk to develop statewide screening recommendations.
- Identify emerging sources of exposure and create strategic plans to remove or reduce sources.
- Evaluate the timeliness and efficacy of case management services available to children with lead poisoning and work with inspectors and risk assessors to ensure safe living environments.
- Conduct educational efforts aimed at pediatric healthcare providers and other partners.
- Serve as the basis for a waiver of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) requirement for universal blood lead testing of children enrolled in Medicaid (if appropriate).
States funded by CDC for childhood lead poisoning prevention and surveillance are required to report childhood lead data quarterly. CDC processes and validates data submissions on an ongoing basis and works with the states to reconcile any submission errors.
State or local health departments requiring technical assistance or additional information, should email the surveillance support team mailbox: leadsurv@cdc.gov.
State surveillance data tables below show county-level summary data. Data tables contain blood lead levels among children <72 months of age for a given year.
Childhood blood lead surveillance data from before 2017 are available in the CDC Archive.
CDC lowered the blood lead reference value.
CDC recommends children with a blood lead level at or above the BLRV be referred for follow-up.