Lead (blood)
Also called: Lead, Blood lead, Lead, blood, Pb, Lead blood
Measures lead in blood as evidence of exposure. Reference values are age-stratified rather than one adult band, and we do not interpret the figure here.
Published: Updated:
What it measures
The test detects the level of lead in blood as evidence of exposure and of lead poisoning. Our source describes its purpose plainly: a tool in diagnosing lead exposure and poisoning, used as a screening test and where exposure is suspected.
The main routes of exposure are inhalation and ingestion, and to a small extent through the skin. That is why the question behind the test is usually about surroundings — work, a hobby, old paint, water pipes, shooting ranges — rather than about something the body did on its own.
Typical reference ranges
Laboratories print age-stratified reference values for lead rather than a single adult range, and the higher figures in circulation are thresholds for action rather than upper limits of normal. We deliberately do not reproduce them here: quoting one line of that table without the rest is how a result gets read against the wrong standard.
The value printed beside your own result, with the age it applies to, is the one that counts — and what it means is a question for the doctor who ordered the test.
The unit conversion below is arithmetic only and implies nothing about whether a value is expected.
What a high value can mean
What a low value can mean
Symptoms to look out for
Lead exposure is often found by testing rather than by symptoms, which is why the test is used for screening where exposure is suspected.
We are not listing symptoms here. Matching a symptom list against a lead result is interpretation, and this is the one marker where we have decided not to do that.
Many out-of-range results cause no symptoms at all - this is context, not a diagnosis.
When to discuss with a doctor
We do not interpret this result, and the reason is specific rather than cautious: the figures laboratories use are age-stratified and the higher ones are action thresholds, not normal limits. A number that looks comfortable against the wrong line is the most harmful thing a page like this could print. Take the report to the doctor who ordered it, and tell them what the suspected exposure was — the source matters as much as the number, because it decides whether anyone else in the same home or workplace should be tested too.