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The error occurred when officials at the Los Angeles County
Department of Public Health mistakenly categorized some blood lead
test results as “elevated” in health data shared with Reuters.
Negative test results from one major laboratory were miscounted as
elevated results for the years 2011 to 2015.
As a consequence, the countywide lead testing data released to
Reuters misstated the number of children with an elevated lead test
in some L.A.-area neighborhoods. Children who test high warrant a
public health response, according to federal health watchdog the
U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
How many results were misstated remains unclear, but the error may
come as a relief to communities such as San Marino, an affluent area
where the data overstated the prevalence of high tests.
The countywide lead testing results were originally released to
Reuters on March 30 in response to a records request. They were part
of a story the news agency published on April 20 examining the
burden of lead exposure on children in the L.A. area.
The data showed many neighborhood areas where a high rate of
children tested for lead had elevated results. That stoked concern
among residents in places like San Marino, just south of Pasadena.
The county had reported that 17 percent of tests from one San Marino
census tract were elevated, at or above the CDC threshold. The
correct figure was closer to 1 percent, the county later determined.
The error occurred because of a misinterpretation of lab results.
County health officials counted negative tests from one laboratory –
at the Children’s Hospital Los Angeles – as elevated, or 5
micrograms per deciliter. In reality, the laboratory had merely
reported that these tests came back below its detection limit. They
didn’t qualify as elevated.
So far, the county health department has only corrected its error
for results in San Marino. Instead of 28 children testing high for
lead in San Marino’s western census tract, as the county data had
shown, just 2 kids tested high, it said.
But the data errors likely extend beyond San Marino, Reuters has
confirmed. Children’s Hospital Los Angeles said it conducted around
5,000 childhood blood lead level tests from 2011 through 2015. All
of these tests may have been counted as high. That could mean that
almost a third of the 15,000 L.A. County children counted as
receiving a high test did not have one.
The correct results across the county of 10 million residents remain
unclear. County health officials declined to restate data for the
1,547 other census tracts covered in the department’s earlier data
release.
Public health specialists said the lack of disclosure could create
confusion. They also cautioned that lead poisoning risks, from old
paint to tainted soil, remain significant in many L.A. areas. For
every California child found with a high lead level, approximately
two are never diagnosed, according to a study published in the
journal Pediatrics in April.
No level of exposure is considered safe. Lead hampers childhood
development, and can lead to lifelong health impacts.
Yet California requires testing for only a small portion of
children. “Under-testing appears to be a huge problem,” said Dr.
Eric Roberts, the lead author of the Pediatrics article, and a
researcher at the Public Health Institute’s California Environmental
Health Tracking Program.
After receiving the original blood testing data for L.A. in March,
Reuters sought out county officials to understand why some rates
were so high. For San Marino, they cited factors including older
housing containing lead paint, along with imported pottery and
foodstuffs from China that could contain lead.
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Once Reuters had published its report, health officials – under
pressure from leaders and residents in San Marino – offered a
different explanation. On or around April 26, county health
officials discovered they had misstated the number of children who
tested high in San Marino, internal county emails obtained by
Reuters show. They updated the community at a public meeting that
week.
At the meeting, the county’s toxicologist, Dr. Cyrus Rangan,
attributed the error of interpretation to Reuters, inaccurately
saying the news agency never checked the data with the county before
publishing. In a phone interview, Rangan apologized for his
misstatement.
The laboratory whose results were misinterpreted said it had
followed state reporting guidelines.
“We were not aware of how the county or state were recording these
levels,” said Maurice O’Gorman, chief of laboratory medicine at
Children’s Hospital Los Angeles.
The data problems are unlikely to recur. That’s because in late
2015, the laboratory lowered its detection limit for lead test
reporting from 5 to 2 micrograms per deciliter, providing greater
precision.
In San Marino, an area where many old homes contain lead paint,
officials said they are still committed to new measures to limit
exposure risks.
The city is developing an ordinance that would require contractors
who engage in renovation, repair or painting to be certified in lead
safe-work practices prior to receiving a city permit or business
license. Contractors would also have to provide documentation
confirming that lead found during their work was properly abated.
City staff planned to conduct lead tests of all drinking fountains
and sinks in all city facilities and will test for lead at schools
and city centers.
“We’re not saying ‘OK, we’re all fine,’ ” said Cindy Collins, San
Marino interim city manager. “Now there’s an awareness for us.”
The earlier data made public by the county showed the number of
children in each of 1,548 census tract areas across L.A. County who
were tested for lead exposure from 2011 to 2015, and the number who
received at least one elevated test – meeting or surpassing the CDC
threshold.
In response to Reuters questions about the data errors, the county
health department issued a statement calling elevated blood lead
tests “a major concern” for public health since no exposure level is
safe. Determining the burden of lead poisoning in any community
requires appropriate analysis, it added.
(Editing by Ronnie Greene)
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