Handler, PhoebeBrabander, Daniel Joseph2013-12-112012Handler, Phoebe, and Daniel Brabander. 2012. Increased incidence and altered risk demographics of childhood lead poisoning: predicting the impacts of the cdc’s 5 µg/dl reference value in massachusetts (usa). International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health 9(11): 3934-3942.1661-7827http://nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:HUL.InstRepos:11370207In May 2012, the CDC adopted a new sliding scale reference value for childhood lead poisoning, reducing the former 10 µg/dL benchmark by half. Using Massachusetts (MA) as a model state, we estimated the change in the population of 9–47 month-olds at risk for lead poisoning. We then examined the impact of the 5 µg/dL reference value on the demographic characteristics of lead risk in MA communities. We find that the new CDC benchmark will lead to a 1470% increase in childhood lead poisoning cases among 9–47 month-olds in MA, with nearly 50% of the examined communities experiencing an increased prevalence of lead poisoning. Further, the top 10 MA communities with BLLs ≥5 µg/dL have significantly fewer foreign-born residents and significantly larger white populations than the highest risk communities formerly identified by the MA Childhood Lead Poisoning Prevention Program. The CDC’s new 5 µg/dL lead poisoning benchmark will drastically increase the number of children with elevated BLLs and alter the distribution and demographics high-risk communities in MA.en-USlead poisoningcommunity healthriskdemographicspublic healthMassachusettsCDCJournal Article2013-12-1110.3390/ijerph9113934