Pedemy All toolsChoose lead or iron, enter the result; next steps, follow-up timing and doses are shown.
This calculator helps clinicians decide what to do after a child's blood lead result or a hemoglobin result suggesting iron deficiency anemia. You choose lead or iron, enter the value, and get next steps, follow-up timing and weight-based doses.
For lead, the tool uses the CDC blood lead reference value of 3.5 µg/dL and accepts capillary or venous samples in µg/dL or µmol/L. A raised capillary screen prompts venous confirmation, sooner as the level rises: within 3 months below 10 µg/dL, down to within 48 hours at 45 µg/dL or more. Venous follow-up intervals, environmental investigation and medical evaluation scale by level, with chelation from 45 µg/dL and admission as a medical emergency at 70 µg/dL or more. For iron, anemia is defined by age-specific WHO hemoglobin cut-offs (for example under 11.0 g/dL at 6 months to 4 years), and iron deficiency by ferritin under 12 or 15 ng/mL, with a reminder that inflammation can raise ferritin.
Results include succimer, edetate calcium disodium and dimercaprol doses for chelation, and elemental iron at 3 mg/kg/day converted to mL of ferrous sulfate drops or liquid. Sources are CDC Recommended Actions Based on Blood Lead Level (August 2025), the 2021 MMWR reference value update, AAP 2016 lead and AAP 2010 iron reports, and WHO hemoglobin (2024) and ferritin (2020) guidance.
The CDC blood lead reference value is 3.5 µg/dL, set in 2021. A level at or above it prompts confirmation with a venous sample if the first test was capillary, reporting to the health department, an exposure history and repeat venous testing.
In this tool, chelation is indicated at a venous lead level of 45 µg/dL or more, using oral succimer 10 mg/kg per dose under a medical toxicologist or PEHSU. At 70 µg/dL or more it is treated as a medical emergency with admission and IV edetate calcium disodium.
The tool uses elemental iron 3 mg/kg/day once daily, between meals, with adolescents at 60–120 mg/day. Recheck hemoglobin in 4 weeks; a rise of 1 g/dL or more confirms iron deficiency. Continue for 2–3 months after hemoglobin is normal to refill stores.
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