Kansas

Blood lead test results are required to be submitted to the Kansas Department of Health and Environment (KDHE) as a notifiable condition. Test results at or above 5 μg/dL were entered into the disease surveillance system called EpiTrax that was developed to manage infectious disease surveillance. Affected children were then referred to local health departments for investigation. Non-elevated tests, which accounted for most of the test results, were stored separately in a makeshift MS-Access database with limited ability to retrieve information. Conducting epidemiological surveillance was very challenging because a consolidated and cleaned dataset to capture the extent of the childhood lead poisoning problem in Kansas was not available.

New tools, processes, and optimized queries were created to make the elevated blood lead test results retrievable from the databases. The Kansas Environmental Public Health Tracking senior epidemiologist provided in-kind support to create scripts to automate the collection, cleaning, and management of the disparate blood lead data sets. Non-elevated blood lead test results were cleaned and stored in a newly created database to ensure that the test results would be accessible and properly formatted for analysis and data submission purposes. A new epidemiologist was hired in September 2019 to use the updated and cleaned blood lead dataset to conduct analyses to identify high-risk areas, work on predictive modeling, create data stories for stakeholders, and provide epidemiological support for local health departments.

A large volume of previously disorganized and non-analyzed data was cleaned, properly formatted, and consolidated into a new database capable of being queried. Approximately 90% of the blood lead data for the past 4 years is now accessible and can be used for surveillance and analytical purposes. Because of this effort, the program can provide additional information to partners to make better-informed decisions to prevent childhood blood lead poisoning.

Funding for this work was made possible in part by [NUE2EH001406] from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The views expressed in this material do not necessarily reflect the official policies of the Department of Health and Human Services; nor does mention of trade names, commercial practices, or organizations imply endorsement by the U.S. Government.