Lead Poisoning: Awareness in Medical and Non-Medical Population of Karachi

Lead is a heavy element, also termed as nerve poison. Lead interferes with a variety of body processes and is toxic to many organs and tissues, including the central nervous system. The purpose of this study is to evaluate awareness regarding lead poisoning, factors that cause lead poisoning, symptoms, effect on enzymes, treatment and preventive measure that can be adopted to reduce lead poisoning in our population. It is a descriptive cross sectional survey based study consisting of 300 individuals comprising of 100 medical professionals and 200 laypersons (100 from Literate and 100 from Illiterate Population). The study was carried out from different locations in Karachi and answers were recorded as open and close ended. Our study showed that 95% medical professionals, 53% Literate layperson whereas only 29% Illiterate layperson were aware about lead poisoning. 38% Literate, 27% Illiterate and 54% medical professional knew about the sources of lead poisoning. 82% medical professionals, 17% Literate laypersons were aware about pharmacological intervention and there was no awareness among Illiterate Population.