More on ADHD and Lead
When we covered the recent news story about lead being responsible for ADHD (see ADHD Caused by Cigarette Smoke and Lead?) I was skeptical of the results. Now on the ADD Forums, there has been an excellent post demolishing the paper.
And 21.1% of kids with ADHD had lead levels in the top quintile! The percentage of kids with ADHD who had lead levels were almost identical to those of the general population. This is not only the direct opposite of what the authors implied in the beginning, not only does it fail to imply lead as a cause of ADHD, but it actually seems to show that ADHD is completely unrelated to blood-lead levels, because the number of ADHD persons with top-quintile blood lead levels was exactly what one would expect to see in the general population if lead were not a factor.
ADHD, lead, and how to lie with statistics
Find Out More:
Books:
- Straight Talk about Psychiatric Medications for Kids
- ADHD Alternatives: A Natural Approach to Treating Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder
- Surprise Treatment for Dyslexia, ADHD, Headaches and Other Conditions: It’s All About Information Management
- Stopping ADHD
- Behaviorspeak: A Glossary of Terms in Applied Behavior Analysis
September 26th, 2006
ADD / ADHD
Comments on: More on ADHD and Lead
There is an actual peer-reviewed published medical study done in the US linking lead and ADHD, look Environ Health Perspect 2006: 114: 1904-1909, by Braun et al.
Posted by: Bogna Haddad July 29th, 2008 at 7:14 pm
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