 long - term exposure to high concentrations of lead results in renal dysfunction . during a prospective study of environmental lead and pregnancy outcomes in 1502 women residing in two towns in yugoslavia , we explored whether moderate exposure to lead results in increased rates of proteinuria . 
 the geometric mean blood lead concentrations ( bpb ) were 17.1 and 5.1 micrograms / dl in the smelter and nonexposed towns , respectively . 
 increases in bpb were associated with increased odds ratios for both trace and > or = 1 + proteinuria , measured using a urinary dipstick . comparing the women in the upper 10th percentile of exposure to those in the lowest 10th percentile , the adjusted odds ratio for > or = 1 + proteinuria was 4.5 ( 95% ci 1.5 , 13.6 ) . 
 similarly , the adjusted odds ratio for trace proteinuria was 2.3 ( 95% ci 1.3 , 4.1 ) . 
 similar to other studies showing associations between chronic exposure to lead and renal dysfunction , our data suggest that long - term exposure to environmental lead may be associated with proteinuria.imagesfigure 1.figure 2 . 
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