Connecticut

About the program

The State of Connecticut received $450,000 through cooperative agreement EH21-2102 from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in FY 2022. The funds address childhood lead poisoning prevention and surveillance programmatic activities being conducted from September 30, 2022, to September 29, 2023.

The strategies focus on:

• Ensuring blood lead testing and reporting
• Enhancing blood lead surveillance
• Improving linkages to recommended services

To learn more about these efforts in Connecticut, contact the program below.

Connecticut Department of Public Health

Lead Poisoning Prevention and Control Program

410 Capitol Avenue

Hartford, CT 06106

Phone: 860-509-7299

Success story: funding year 3

Increasing blood lead screening opportunities in Connecticut through policy

Challenge

In 2022, the Connecticut Department of Public Health Childhood Lead Poisoning Prevention Program's (CT CLPPP) regulatory blood lead reference value (BLRV) was 5 μg/dL. CT CLPPP's BLRV was not as protective as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)'s value, which has been 3.5 μg/dL since October 2021. Lowering the state BLRV would allow for more children to benefit from public health interventions and education for their parents and caregivers.

Intervention

To address these issues, the CT CLPPP endorsed legislation that officially implemented CDC's updated BLRV. As a result of adopting the lowered BLRV of 3.5 μg/dL in January 2023, supplementary legislation was adopted to increase awareness of lead poisoning and targeted testing of populations at risk. The additional targeted testing requires healthcare providers to screen any child between 36 months to 72 months of age if enrolled in medical assistance or if the child is a resident in a municipality that is high risk, including areas with older housing stock and a high prevalence of children's blood lead levels >5 µg/dL.

Impact

Legislation passed through Public Act 22-49 during the 2022 and 2023 legislative sessions requires that CT CLPPP enhance its requirements to increase awareness of lead poisoning and targeted testing of at-risk populations.

The enhancements included:

• Lowering of the epidemiological investigations to ≥ 5 µg/dL;
• Laboratories to report blood lead levels ≥ 3.5 µg/dL within 48 hours;
• Local health departments must provide educational materials to parents whose child's blood lead level is ≥ 3.5 µg/dL;
• Healthcare providers shall notify the parent of a child with blood lead levels ≥ 3.5 µg/dL within 24 hours; and
• Healthcare providers must screen any child between 36 months to 72 months of age if enrolled in medical assistance or is a resident in a high-risk municipality including areas with older housing stock and high prevalence of children's blood lead levels > 5 µg/dL.

In 2022, 1,005 children had a confirmed blood lead level of ≥ 5 µg/dL. With the blood lead reference value being decreased to 3.5 µg/dL in 2023, CT CLPPP reported 4,496 confirmed blood lead levels ≥ 3.5 µg/dL. This is over four times as many children in 2023 vs 2022 who were classified as having elevated blood lead levels by the updated standard in CT.

CT CLPPP has also updated its website to include the most recently published documents:

• Requirements and Guidance for Childhood Lead Screening for Healthcare Providers Medical
• CT CLPPP Fact sheets

Funding for this work was made possible in part by EH17-1701 from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The views expressed in this material do not necessarily reflect the official policies of CDC; nor does mention of trade names, commercial practices, or organizations imply endorsement by the U.S. Government.

Success story: funding year 2

Making Connecticut childhood blood lead surveillance data more accessible

Challenge

The Connecticut Department of Public Health Childhood Lead Poisoning Prevention Program (CLPPP) publishes an annual data surveillance report. The report describes trends in blood lead surveillance, including testing rates, blood lead levels, and programmatic progress. The report is published on the state CLPPP's website and can be accessed and viewed digitally by a variety of audiences, including local health partners and the public. The surveillance data were published in the annual surveillance report (a PDF document) and were not available on a platform that was dynamic or in real-time. As a result, data navigation, visualization, and interaction were challenging for the end-user as the data were only updated annually.

Intervention

To address these challenges, the CLPPP staff aimed to learn from strides made in COVID-19 data accessibility. Using a newly developed pandemic data platform, the CLPPP staff outlined a lead surveillance data plan that included more frequent data updates, analysis of seasonal data trends, and development of a data story rather than an annual surveillance report. In 2022, the CLPPP worked with agency partners to build a story on the new statewide open data portal. Connecticut Open Data is the state's repository for open data, with more than 700 datasets hosted on the portal. Users can identify the specific data they are seeking to review and then view stories and dashboards, interact with data, create their own visualizations, and filter data to find local information. The data story is based on 2020 annual report findings. This allows users to access the surveillance data more easily with improved visualization so data can be better understood.

Impact

The data story has been shared with CLPPP partners, including local health departments and healthcare providers. It has been accessed by the public, reporters, and policy decision-makers with over 1,000 views. Automation, story revisions, and seasonal trends remain future goals that will build on the success of this intervention.

Funding for this work was made possible in part by EH17-1701 from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The views expressed in this material do not necessarily reflect the official policies of the CDC; nor does mention of trade names, commercial practices, or organizations imply endorsement by the U.S. Government.

Success story: funding year 1

Connecticut is making progress in reducing lead poisoning in Black and Hispanic children

Challenge

In Connecticut, lead poisoning disproportionately affects children of color. Black and Hispanic children are more likely to have elevated blood lead levels (BLLs), defined as equal to or greater than 5 micrograms per deciliter, than White and non-Hispanic children. In 2016, elevated BLLs for Black children were 4.8%, compared to 2.0% among White children, respectively, and 3.5% among Hispanic children and 2.4% among non-Hispanic children, respectively.

Intervention

To address this disparity, the Connecticut Department of Public Health Lead and Healthy Homes Program developed individualized media campaigns that focused on raising awareness of lead poisoning and increasing the screening rates among Black and Hispanic populations.

In 2016, the Lead and Healthy Homes Program partnered with the Latino and Puerto Rican Affairs Commission to conduct annual media campaigns targeting the Hispanic population. In cities and towns with a large Hispanic population, billboards, bus shelter ads, social media, radio, and television were used to promote lead poisoning awareness. The ads in Spanish and English directed the audience to call the Connecticut Lead and Healthy Homes Program or visit the website, available in Spanish, for information on health effects, when to have your child screened, and how to properly clean lead paint hazards.

Impact

Since the campaign started, the prevalence of lead poisoning in Hispanic children has decreased in Connecticut. Though the downward trend started in 2013, the decline in 2016 and 2017 exceeded previous years. The percentage of elevated BLLs in Hispanic children was 3.5% in 2016 and decreased to 2.7% in 2017. The percentage of elevated BLLs in Black children dropped from 4.8% in 2016 to 3.9% in 2017. Although the decrease in lead levels for the Black population is not as large as the decrease in Hispanic children, the downward trend is promising. The media campaign will continue, using additional resources to reach specific audiences on social media and internet media advertising.

Funding for this work was made possible in part by EH17-1701 from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The views expressed in this material do not necessarily reflect the official policies of the CDC; nor does mention of trade names, commercial practices, or organizations imply endorsement by the U.S. Government.