Childhood lead exposure increases the risk of depressive symptoms: JAMA

A new study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association showed that low-level blood lead levels in childhood were linked to later-life self-reported depression symptoms, with late childhood and early adolescent showing very high exposure risk increases.

Lower cognitive ability and externalizing behavioral issues in children are linked to low-level lead exposure during early brain development. But less is known about the link between lead exposure and anxiety and depression, especially in later childhood when these symptoms are more common. Thus, this study investigated for times of vulnerability and to analyze relationships between low-level, serial blood lead concentrations in children and symptoms of anxiety and depression.

The Health Outcomes and Measures of Environment [HOME] research recruited 218 caregiver-child dyads (218 children and 218 parents) in Cincinnati, Ohio between 2003 and 2006, provided data for this cohort research. From the second trimester to the age of twelve, children and their families were monitored (2016-2019).

Analysis of the data was place from June 2024 to November 2025. Children's serial blood lead concentrations were assessed at ages 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 8, and 12. Researchers used the Behavioral Assessment System for Children–3 (BASC-3), Children’s Depression Inventory–II (CDI-II), and Screen for Child Anxiety Related Disorders (SCARED) to assess children’s anxiety and depression symptoms at age 12.

The median (IQR; range) mean within-child blood lead concentration was 9.6 (7.8 to 12.6; 4.8 to 32.4) μg/L among 218 children (121 female [55.5%], 78 Black [35.8%], and 140 White and other race or ethnicity [64.2%]; mean [SD] age, 12.4 [0.7] years). A higher risk of elevated child-reported depressive symptoms on the BASC-3 (relative risk [RR], 1.90; 95% CI, 1.00 to 3.66; P =.05) and child- and caregiver-reported child depressive symptoms (RR, 1.76; 95% CI, 1.12 to 2.78; P =.02) were linked to each doubling in mean childhood blood lead concentrations.

Adjusted mean differences in self-reported BASC-3 depression ratings by blood lead concentration increased from age 1 (1.82; 95% CI, −1.10 to 4.74; P =.22), a nonsignificant outcome, to age 8 (3.22; 95% CI, 0.53 to 5.90; P =.02), a significant outcome. Blood lead levels did not correlate with self-reported anxiety as judged by the SCARED or sadness as measured by the Children's sadness Inventory-II. Overall, lead exposure throughout childhood was linked to increased depressive symptoms in later childhood, especially when examined at birth and age 8.

Source:

Hoover, C., Papandonatos, G., Cecil, K. M., Chen, A., Lanphear, B. P., Strawn, J. R., Yolton, K., & Braun, J. M. (2026). Blood lead concentrations and depressive and anxiety symptoms in childhood. JAMA Network Open, 9(1), e2556019. https://doi.org/10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2025.56019