| Summary: | Pregnant women with high blood lead posed high risk to
their fetus as placental transfer can occurs to the fetus. The objective of this study was to identify the relationship
between blood lead and the neuropsychological score of
women who were in their 3rd trimester of pregnancy. These
respondents were undergoing a routine antenatal checkup at
a teaching hospital located in Klang Valley areas. Blood
lead concentrations were analyzed using graphite furnace
Atomic Absorption Spectrophotometer (AAS). The
neuropsychological scores were measured with WHO
Neurobehavioral Core Test battery (NCTB). The test
consists of 7 items, which made up of the Digit Symbol,
Trail Making, Digit Span, Benton Visual Retention Test,
Pursuit Aiming, Santa Ana Manual Dexterity, Reaction
Time and Movement Time tests. The mean blood lead was
7.78±4.77 µg/dL. The mean score for the total NCTB test
was 50.00±5.24. Statistical analysis showed blood lead
concentrations were inversely correlated with the total
NCTB score (r= –0.462, p≤0.01). The correlation was about
21.3%. The General Linear Model (GLM) showed that age
(β= –0.15, p=0.017), weight (β=2.67, p=0.05) and height
(β=–1.97, p=0.05) also influence the total
neuropsychological scores. In conclusion, blood lead
reduces the total neuropsychological scores. The scores for
each of the 7 items were inversely and significantly
correlated with blood lead concentrations except for the
Trail Making and Santa Ana Manual Dexterity tests.
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