ORIGINAL CONTRIBUTION Follow-up Testing Among Children With Elevated Screening Blood Lead Levels

IN 1997, THE CENTERS FOR DISEASEControl and Prevention (CDC)changed the recommendation forchildhood lead poisoning preven-tion from near-universal testing of all children to targeted testing based on the risk of lead exposure.1,2 This changewas motivated by the decrease in the preva-lence of lead poisoning because of the success of primary prevention strate-gies, such as the removal of lead from paint and gasoline.3 The CDC di-rected states to develop plans for lead testing according to local risk.1 Test-ing was also recommended for chil-dren according to the results from a standardized risk-assessment question-naire and for those enrolled in public-assistance programs (eg, Medicaid; th