BLOOD FROM A NEEDLE PRICK SUFFICIENT FOR LEAD TESTING

Blood for lead-level tests in children may be taken from simple finger or heel-prick stick sampling instead of from the more difficult drawing from veins, a study has concluded.

Despite a U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommendation that all children 6 months to 6 years be tested for lead poisoning, some physicians and clinics do not try because of the difficulty, said Thomas Schlenker, director of the Salt Lake City-County Health Department.Schlenker's study, conducted in Milwaukee where Schlenker was the city health department's medical director before coming to Utah in December, was published in this week's Journal of the American Medical Association.

The study correlated blood-lead levels measured by one of four alternative sampling methods with those drawn simultaneously with the needle-in-the-vein method.

While the sampling of finger-prick tests - which costs about $10 compared to about $30 for the traditional method and analysis - proved effective, the authors say it still must be confirmed with a second direct-vein blood sample before treatment.

Schlenker said each of the methods tested on two sets of high-risk Milwaukee children showed excellent correlation with corresponding measurements drawn directly from veins.

Sixty children were tested during door-to-door home visits in October 1991, and a second group of 235 consecutive children were tested when they showed up at a clinic between February 1992 and July 1993.