This meta-analysis examined the association between Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) symptoms and lead exposure in children and adolescents. Thirty-three studies published between 1972 and 2010 involving 10,232 children and adolescents were included. There was a small to medium association between inattention symptoms and lead exposure (r=.16, k=27, p<.001) and a similar association between hyperactivity/impulsivity symptoms and lead exposure (r=.13, k=23, p<.001). There was significant heterogeneity among the effect sizes for both inattention symptoms and for hyperactivity/impulsivity symptoms, with studies using hair analysis to assess lead burden yielding substantially larger effect sizes than those using other methods. Excluding the hair analysis studies, the average rs were .14 for inattention (k=23, p<.001) and .12 for hyperactivity/impulsivity (k=21, p<.001). Overall, the relation between lead exposure and ADHD symptoms was similar in magnitude to the relation between lead exposure and decreased IQ and between lead exposure and conduct problems.
This research output has an Altmetric Attention Score of 68. This is our high-level measure of the quality and quantity of online attention that it has received. This Attention Score, as well as the ranking and number of research outputs shown below, was calculated when the research output was last mentioned on 01 January 2025.
All research outputs
#780,607
of 33,738,238 outputs
Outputs from Clinical Psychology Review
#210
of 1,877 outputs
Outputs of similar age
#5,280
of 342,052 outputs
Outputs of similar age from Clinical Psychology Review
#4
of 23 outputs
Altmetric has tracked 33,738,238 research outputs across all sources so far. Compared to these this one has done particularly well and is in the 97th percentile: it's in the top 5% of all research outputs ever tracked by Altmetric.
So far Altmetric has tracked 1,877 research outputs from this source. They typically receive a lot more attention than average, with a mean Attention Score of 34.1. This one has done well, scoring higher than 88% of its peers.
Older research outputs will score higher simply because they've had more time to accumulate mentions. To account for age we can compare this Altmetric Attention Score to the 342,052 tracked outputs that were published within six weeks on either side of this one in any source. This one has done particularly well, scoring higher than 98% of its contemporaries.
We're also able to compare this research output to 23 others from the same source and published within six weeks on either side of this one. This one has done well, scoring higher than 82% of its contemporaries.
