Grant Number:
Principal Investigator:
Smith, Allan H
Institution:
University of California, Berkeley
Most Recent Award Year:
2014
Lifestage of Participants:
Exposure:
Prenatal; Infant (0-1 year); Youth (1-18 years)
Assessment:
Youth (1-18 years, specifically 10-18 years of age); Adulthood (18+ years, specifically 19-20 years of age)
Exposures:
Metals:
Arsenic
Health Outcomes:
Cardiovascular Outcomes:
Cardiovascular disease
Kidney outcomes:
Metabolic Outcomes:
Diabetes; Obesity/body weight
Respiratory Outcomes:
Lung function
Biological Sample:
Blood; Serum; Teeth
Other Participant Data:
Blood pressure, fasting blood glucose, gycosuria, lipid profiles, BMI, spirometry, creatinine, proteinuria, serum beta2-microglobin, wheezing and shortness of breath
Genes or Other DNA Products Studied:
Clara cell protein (CC16), Beta-2-microglobulin, secretoglobin, family 1A, member 1 (uteroglobin)
Abstract:
Little is known about the consequences of early life exposure to most common environmental chemicals, including arsenic. This constitutes a critical gap in knowledge, since our recent findings from Chile suggest that early life exposure to arsenic results in disturbing increases in young adult mortality from several cancers, including lung cancer, bladder cancer, kidney cancer, as well as non-cancer causes of death, including myocardial infarction, chronic renal failure and chronic respiratory disease. Arsenic is a remarkable toxicant already known to affect multiple organ systems in exposed adults, including increased incidence of several cancers, cardiovascular disease, chronic respiratory disease and diabetes. We have been following a cohort of 650 children in Bangladesh, approximately half of whom had a wide range of exposure to arsenic in drinking water in early life, up to 1000μg/L, while the other half were never exposed to more than 10 μg/L in water. To date, our focus has been on respiratory disease, and we have found a marked increase in respiratory symptoms in the exposed children at ages 7-17 years, including wheezing and shortness of breath. We propose to continue following this unique cohort of children, not only to look for progression of respiratory disease, but also to add additional markers of early life effects for several other important chronic diseases. These include early markers and risk factors for cardiovascular disease (blood pressure, serum lipids, body mass index, and hemoglobin), diabetes (fasting blood sugar and glycosuria), and chronic renal effects (creatinine and serum ß2-microglobulin). We also plan a pilot investigation of arsenic in deciduous teeth as a biological marker for in utero and early childhood exposure. Studying the effects of early life arsenic exposure is a public health priority, since millions of pregnant mothers and children in the US and worldwide are exposed to arsenic in drinking water above the current drinking water standard of 10 μg/L. If further study confirms our preliminary evidence that early life exposure is important to the long-term health of exposed children, then much more attention must be paid to preventing early life arsenic exposure.
ExpandCollapse Abstract
Related NIEHS-Funded Study Populations
Children with In Utero Arsenic Exposure: Bangladesh
Principal Investigator:
Christiani, David
| Study Population Page Study Population c34
Institution:
Harvard University
Location:
Bangladesh
Number of Participants::
1,613 Pregnant women and 1,189 Mother-infant pairs
Brief Description::
This is a prospective birth cohort study in Bangladesh examining the impact of chronic arsenic exposure on birth, neurodevelopmental, and respiratory outcomes. A total of 1,613 pregnant mothers were recruited from Sirajdikhan and Pabna Sadar Upazilas Districts of Bangladesh from 2008-2011. Women were eligible to participate if they were 18 years or older with an ultrasound confirmed singleton pregnancy of ≤16 weeks gestation, used a tube well as their primary source of drinking water and had been using the same drinking water source for at least six months, and intended to live in her current residence throughout pregnancy. At the end of follow-up, 1,189 livebirths, 259 preterm births, 72 stillbirths, and 132 miscarriages were recorded. The neurodevelopment study involves continued follow-up of 812 children.