Dietrich and colleagues signed up pregnant women living in
Cincinnati neighborhoods ridden with lead-contaminated housing
between 1979 and 1984. They tested the women and then their
children from birth and have been watching the children as they
grew up.
Those with high lead levels before birth and during early
childhood had higher rates of arrest than those with lower lead
levels. About 55 percent of the now-grown children had at least
one arrest, 28 percent involving drugs and 27 percent serious
motor vehicle violations.
Dr. Kim Cecil of Cincinnati Children's
Hospital Medical Center did magnetic resonance imaging, or MRI
scans, of the brains of their volunteers.
They found more than 1 percent of total gray matter in the
brain was missing. "The most affected regions included frontal
gray matter, specifically the anterior cingulate cortex,"
Cecil's team wrote in a second study. This region is
responsible for mood regulation and decision-making.
Men were far more affected than women.
