Maternal perceptions of lead poisoning in children with normal and elevated lead levels

Introduction: The purpose of this study was to examine mothers' perceptions of the severity and susceptibility of their children to lead poisoning and to determine if a correlation existed between mothers' knowledge of lead poisoning and their children's blood lead levels. It was thought that mothers of children with lead poisoning (lead levels ≥10 μg/dL) would score lower on a test of their perceptions and knowledge of lead poisoning than would mothers of children with normal lead levels (lead levels ≤9 μg/dL).