Most of the lead circulating in the body is deposited in bone and remains there for years, unlike blood lead, which has a half life of about 30 days.

Since adverse effects from lead on the cardiovascular system would be expected to show up over time, the researchers expected that bone lead would be a better marker of chronic toxicity.

The researchers, led by Weisskopf and Howard Hu, professor of epidemiology and internal medicine at the U-MSPH, based their findings on data from 868 participants in the Department of Veterans Affairs Normative Aging Study, that began in 1963.

The study appeared online in the journal Circulation.