¹⁰⁹Cd K x-ray fluorescence (XRF) measurement systems from two research centres were used to measure tibia lead content in a population (n = 530) of young adults. The group mean bone lead contents (±SEM) determined by McMaster University (n = 214) and the University of Maryland (n = 316) were 2.80±0.51 and 2.33±0.50 µg Pb/(g bone mineral) respectively. The mean difference of 0.47±0.71 µg Pb/(g bone mineral) was not significant. There was no evidence of a systematic difference between measurements from the two systems.

Measurement uncertainties for the young adults were poorer overall than uncertainties for a population of occupationally exposed men. This was because obese subjects and women were included in the study. Regressions of precision against body mass index (BMI, defined as weight/height²) determined that uncertainties increased with BMI and were poorer for women than men. Measurement uncertainties (1) were >8 µg Pb/(g bone mineral) for women with a BMI > 0.004 kg cm^-2.

Poor-precision data affected population estimates of bone lead content; an inverse correlation was found between precision and bone lead content. A small number (0.4%) of individual measurements with poor uncertainties were inaccurate to within the precision. It is suggested that obese subjects, whose BMI > 0.004 kg cm^-2, should be excluded from ¹⁰⁹Cd K XRF studies, as the measurement provides limited information and may be inaccurate.