CDC’s National Surveillance Data (1997-2015)
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Funded health departments are required to provide data to CDC; other health departments are not.
These data have limitations, and we cannot compare across states or counties.
CDC began collecting childhood blood lead surveillance data in April 1995. The national surveillance system is composed of data from state and local health departments.
States maintain their own child-specific databases so they can identify duplicate test results or sequential test results on individual children. These databases contain follow-up data on children with elevated blood lead levels including data on medical treatment, environmental investigations, and potential sources of lead exposure. States extract fields from their child-specific surveillance databases and transfer them to CDC for the national database.
State child-specific databases contain follow-up data on children with elevated blood lead levels including data on medical treatment, environmental investigations, and potential sources of lead exposure. Surveillance fields for CDC's national database are extracted from state child-specific databases and transferred to CDC.
State surveillance systems are based on reports of blood lead tests from laboratories. Ideally, laboratories report results of all blood lead tests, not just elevated values, to state health departments. States determine the reporting level for blood lead tests and decide which data elements should accompany the blood lead test result.
These data were collected for program management purposes. The data have limitations, and we cannot compare across states or counties because data collection methods vary across grantees. Data are not generalizable at the national, state, or local level.
The chart represents only state-specific data and is not a population-based estimate, so we are not able to compare states against one another.
Learn more about CDC’s Childhood Lead Poisoning Data.
Tested and Confirmed Elevated Blood Lead Levels by State, Year, and Blood Lead Level Group for Children <72 months of age
- Page last reviewed: March 25, 2016
- Page last updated: October 28, 2016
- Content source:
National Center for Environmental Health, Division of Emergency and Environmental Health Services