Pessimistically, lead may taint your outlook.

Peters, JL, LD Kubzansky, A Ikeda, A Spiro III, RO Wright, MG Weisskopf, D Kim, D Sparrow, LH Nie, H Hu and J Schwartz. 2011. Childhood and adult socioeconomic position, cumulative lead levels, and pessimism in later life: The VA Normative Aging Study. American Journal of Epidemiology http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/aje/kwr269.

Lead exposure over a lifetime may lead to a darker outlook, which can in turn increase risk of depression, reports a study on aging men.

The lead levels in the men were associated with increased pessimism even after the researchers considered the low socioeconomic factors that also are linked to pessimism. The results are published in the American Journal of Epidemiology.

Previous studies had shown that lead exposure may be associated with pessimism, but these studies were limited in their ability to consider important factors such as socioeconomic factors in childhood and adulthood.  

Pessimism is a personality trait associated with a tendency to expect negative outcomes. Pessimists have a higher risk for depression and chronic diseases, such as cardiovascular disease, than optimists. People of lower socioeconomic status (SES) – indicated by lower income, lower education level and lower rates of home ownership – are more likely to be pessimistic and to have higher lead exposures.

Lead mainly affects the nervous system and impacts intelligence, memory and behavior. This is particularly true in young children. It also is linked to an increased risk of cardiovascular disease.

In the United States, lead exposures declined dramatically after lead was banned from paint and gasoline in the 1970s. However, higher lead exposures still plague people who live in poorer neighborhoods.  Sources include peeling lead-based paint, contaminated soils and active and secondhand cigarette smoke. 

When people are exposed to lead, only a small part of it is excreted. The rest is stored in bone. The amount of lead in bones is a measure of how much exposure a person has had during his or her lifetime.

In this study, the authors evaluated whether lead alone could affect pessimism or whether having lower SES as a child or an adult also contributes to negative outlook.

They recruited men in their late sixties from Boston, Mass., and used a standardized test to assess their tendency to be pessimistic or optimistic. They also collected childhood and adult socioeconomic information. Lead levels were measured in the men's tibia leg bone.

Men with higher bone lead were more likely to be pessimistic than men with lower levels. The association between lead and exposure and pessimism was still present once the scientists took into account both childhood SES and adult SES. This means that lead by itself was related to being more pessimistic.

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