Some CareOregon Providers have been receiving letters from our Quality Improvement Department notifying them of elevated blood lead levels for individual children. The data came from OMAP and covers the period from January, 2002 through December, 2004. Thank you all for responding to these letters. 

Elevated blood levels (equal to or higher than 10 micrograms of lead per deciliter of blood) in children age 17 or younger became a reportable condition in Oregon in 1991. In 1992 the CDC funded Oregon to establish a Childhood Lead Poisoning Prevention Program. You can read about the program at The Department of Human Services Web site: http://egov.oregon.gov/DHS/ph/lead/oclppp.shtml

Here are answers to some frequently-asked questions we received from providers:

Q. Why are you sending us notices of lead levels under 10 when the level of concern is 10 or greater?
A.  Ideally the lead levels would read as zero but the data shows that some children become re-exposed and levels do not always show a consistent downward trend once monitoring begins. We want to be sure you are aware the child has been monitored for elevated lead levels in the past.

Q. Is this the most current data?
A. This data covers a three-year period and was provided by OMAP at the end of 2005.

We're also glad to receive the following feedback from providers:

“Thank you for providing this information. The child is new to our clinic and we did not know he had been followed for elevated lead levels.”

“This is a foster child and we were unaware of his elevated lead level.”

Bookmark and check the CareOregon Web site frequently. We will soon be providing links on our health information pages to resources on lead poisoning and educational materials you can print in several languages for your patients.