Avaliação do desempenho escolar de crianças contaminadas por chumbo

Abstract

The lead contamination in children has been the subject of research in the field of public health. This study evaluated the academic performance of 102 children from first to fourth grade. The subjects were divided into two groups. The first group was composed of 34 children without lead poisoning or with poison at levels lower than 5 μg/dl. The second group was composed of 68 children with blood lead levels between 10 and 40 μg/dl. The instruments used to evaluate the academic performance were anamnesis and a scholarly performance test called Teste de Desempenho Escolar, TDE. The results indicated better academic performances from the second group with significant differences in arithmetic, reading and general scores. In a comparison between genders, the girls had better performances than the boys. These results were consistent with the parents' perception in anamnesis. Although other variables were present, the data showed great academic damage for children with higher lead-poison. These outcomes require political policies to control contamination and intervention in this population.