Elevated Blood Lead Levels in Allegheny County

In 2018, Allegheny County passed legislation that requires children to be tested for blood lead level between 9 and 12 months and again at 24 months. Lead is a metal nuerotoxin that causes learning difficulties and developmental delays in children. Although no amount of lead is safe in the body, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) set the reference value for elevate blood lead levels to 3.5 ug/dL, up from the previous value of 5.0 ug/dL.

The maps below display a five year aggregate of percent of tests that had an elevated blood lead level of 5.0 ug/dL or greater for children under 6 in Allegheny County. The first map shows the data at a geographic census tract level, the second map displays the municipalities and neighborhoods of Pittsburgh, and the third map is school districts. Any area with less than 50 tests in the five year period is censored and displayed in gray.

Exposure to lead through lead-based paint in older homes is a significant risk for elevated blood lead and may help to explain the different rates of EBLL between the City and the remainder of the County. Lead paint was banned for consumer use in 1978; houses built prior to this are at an increased likelihood of containing lead-based paint. The older the home the higher the likelihood of containing lead-based paint. In the city of Pittsburgh an estimated 59.6% of housing units were built before 1950 compared to 39.1% of all county housing units. A higher percentage of homes built prior to the banning of lead paint likely contributes to an increased risk of exposure for children living in this area.

The map below displays side by side a map of homes built before 1960 (left) and the five year aggregate of elevated blood lead levels at a 5ug/dL reference level for 2017 - 2021 (right). The lead paint risk map represents the score out of 10 for lead paint risk based on the percent of homes in that commnity built before 1960. A higher score indicates a higher risk. The comparison shows that many of the communities with high risk also have high percentages of EBLL for children younger than 6.