TY - JOUR
T1 - Clinical course of neuropsychological functioning after chronic exposure to organic and inorganic lead
AU - Bolla, Karen
AU - Rignani, Jo Ellen
N1 - Funding Information:
Address correspondence to: Karen I. Bolla, PhD, Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center, Department ogy, Room 122 B, 4940 Eastern Avenue, Baltimore, MD 21224. This work was supported, in part, by E.I. DuPont de Nemours Company, Wilmington, DE. We would Jean Lud Cadet MD for his thoughtful comments and Regina Galante for her editorial input.
PY - 1997
Y1 - 1997
N2 - This case series describes the clinical course (12- to 28-month follow- up) of neuropsychological functioning in 23 workers who had chronic occupational exposure to a mixture of organic and inorganic lead. Significant improvement in performance was seen in 1/23 tests and deterioration in 3/23 tests. However, there was no significant change in the majority of tests (19/23). Tests that showed deterioration were all tests of psychomotor/motor speed. In addition, 10 of 13 workers who completed a symptom checklist twice reported more frequent physical, cognitive, and affective symptoms at follow- up. This increase in symptoms was associated with psychomotor/motor slowing as compared to initial test performance. Many workers subjectively reported an increased frequency of memory and concentration problems at follow-up, although this change could not be documented objectively. Individual worker demographic and exposure characteristics were not predictive of changes in neuropsychological performance at retest. We propose a psychosocial mechanism to explain the increase in symptom severity and the psychomotor/motor slowing because environmental levels of lead declined during the inter-test interval.
AB - This case series describes the clinical course (12- to 28-month follow- up) of neuropsychological functioning in 23 workers who had chronic occupational exposure to a mixture of organic and inorganic lead. Significant improvement in performance was seen in 1/23 tests and deterioration in 3/23 tests. However, there was no significant change in the majority of tests (19/23). Tests that showed deterioration were all tests of psychomotor/motor speed. In addition, 10 of 13 workers who completed a symptom checklist twice reported more frequent physical, cognitive, and affective symptoms at follow- up. This increase in symptoms was associated with psychomotor/motor slowing as compared to initial test performance. Many workers subjectively reported an increased frequency of memory and concentration problems at follow-up, although this change could not be documented objectively. Individual worker demographic and exposure characteristics were not predictive of changes in neuropsychological performance at retest. We propose a psychosocial mechanism to explain the increase in symptom severity and the psychomotor/motor slowing because environmental levels of lead declined during the inter-test interval.
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U2 - 10.1016/S0887-6177(96)00059-5
DO - 10.1016/S0887-6177(96)00059-5
M3 - Article
C2 - 14588423
AN - SCOPUS:0030942339
SN - 0887-6177
VL - 12
SP - 123
EP - 131
JO - Archives of Clinical Neuropsychology
JF - Archives of Clinical Neuropsychology
IS - 2
ER -