Arsenic: exposure has effect on children?s intellectual function, Bangladesh

A new study [1] reveals a strong association between arsenic exposure from contaminated wells and intelligence in children in Bangladesh. The results add urgency to the need for effective remediation in Bangladesh and other regions of south Asia where consumption of arsenic contaminated water is prevalent.

Exposure to arsenic (As) has long been known to have neurological consequences in adults, although to date there are no well-controlled studies in children. The study reports results of a cross-sectional investigation of intellectual function in 201 ten year-old children of parents who participated in an ongoing prospective cohort study examining health effects of arsenic exposure in 12,000 residents of Araihazar, Bangladesh.

Children's intellectual function on tests drawn from the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children-III (WISC-III) was assessed by summing weighted items across domains to create Verbal, Performance and Full Scale raw scores. Children provided urine specimens for measuring urinary As and creatinine, and were asked to provide blood samples for measuring blood lead and hemoglobin concentrations.

Exposure to As from drinking water was associated with reduced intellectual function after adjustment for sociodemographic covariates and water manganese(MN). Water arsenic was associated with reduced intellectual function, in a dose-response fashion, such that children with water As > 50 µg/L achieved significantly lower Performance and Full Scale scores than children with water As < 5.5 µg/L. The association was generally stronger for well water As than for urinary As.

[1] Wasserman, G.A. [...] et al. (2004). Water arsenic exposure and children's intellectual function in Araihazar, Bangladesh. Environmental Health Perspectives, http://dx.doi.org/10.1289/ehp.6964
See also: Child health: repeated bouts of diarrhoea affect IQ, Source, 12 Jan 2004, http://www.irc.nl/page/7703

Contact: Dr. Gail A. Wasserman, Department of Psychiatry, College of Physicians and Surgeons, Columbia University, New York City, NY 10032, USA, wassermg@childpsych.columbia.edu

Keywords

• Water-related diseases