Long-Term Effects of Environmental Lead on Erythropoietin Production in Young Adults: A Follow-Up Study of a Prospective Cohort in Kosovo

Table 1

Sample characteristics ((%) or mean ± SD).

Variable	Prishtina (N = 21) N (%)	Mitrovica (N = 80) N (%)	value
Mean age	24.9 + 0.49	24.8 + 0.48	0.49
Ethnicity
% Albanian	95.2	68.7	0.01
% Serbian + other	4.8	31.2
Sex
% male	47.6	46.2	0.91
% female	52.4	53.8
Education
% high school or less	19.0	51.3	0.01
% college or more	80.9	48.7
Employment status
% employed	76.2	47.4	0.02
% unemployed/seeking employment	23.8	52.5
Smoking status
% current	66.6	29.3	0.01
% no	33.3	70.7
Maternal education
% high school or less	85.7	93.7	0.22
% college or more	14.3	6.2
Mean BMI	23.0 + 2.3	24.0 + 4.5	0.15
Mean height (m)	1.7 + 0.09	1.7 + 0.09	0.55
Mean concurrent BPb (μg/dl)	1.7 + 0.7	4.9 + 3.26	<0.0001
Mean concurrent Hgb (g/dl)	14.0 + 1.7	13.6 + 1.71	0.36
Mean concurrent EPO^ (mIU/ml)	8.49 + 3.74	10.99 + 7.12	0.04

Follow-up of participants in the Yugoslavia study of lead exposure and child development. Body mass index, blood lead, and hemoglobin.