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. 2020 Apr:137:105531.
doi: 10.1016/j.envint.2020.105531. Epub 2020 Feb 18.

Associations of maternal arsenic exposure with adult fasting glucose and insulin resistance in the Strong Heart Study and Strong Heart Family Study

Naomi E Tinkelman  1 , Miranda Jones Spratlen  2 , Arce Domingo-Relloso  2 , Maria Tellez-Plaza  3 , Maria Grau-Perez  2 , Kevin A Francesconi  4 , Walter Goessler  4 , Barbara V Howard  5 , Jean MacCluer  6 , Kari E North  7 , Jason G Umans  5 , Pam Factor-Litvak  8 , Shelley A Cole  7 , Ana Navas-Acien  9
Affiliations

Associations of maternal arsenic exposure with adult fasting glucose and insulin resistance in the Strong Heart Study and Strong Heart Family Study

Naomi E Tinkelman et al. Environ Int. 2020 Apr.

Abstract

Experimental and prospective epidemiologic evidence suggest that arsenic exposure has diabetogenic effects. However, little is known about how family exposure to arsenic may affect risk for type 2 diabetes (T2D)-related outcomes in adulthood. We evaluated the association of both maternal and offspring arsenic exposure with fasting glucose and incident T2D in 466 participants of the Strong Heart Family Study. Total arsenic (ΣAs) exposure was calculated as the sum of inorganic arsenic (iAs) and methylated (MMA, DMA) arsenic species in maternal and offspring baseline urine. Median maternal ΣAs at baseline (1989-91) was 7.6 µg/g creatinine, while median offspring ΣAs at baseline (2001-03) was 4.5 µg/g creatinine. Median offspring glucose in 2006-2009 was 94 mg/dL, and 79 participants developed T2D. The fully adjusted mean difference (95% CI) for offspring glucose was 4.40 (-3.46, 12.26) mg/dL per IQR increase in maternal ΣAs vs. 2.72 (-4.91 to 10.34) mg/dL per IQR increase in offspring ΣAs. The fully adjusted odds ratio (95%CI) of incident T2D was 1.35 (1.07, 1.69) for an IQR increase in maternal ΣAs and 1.15 (0.92, 1.43) for offspring ΣAs. The association of maternal ΣAs with T2D outcomes were attenuated with adjustment for offspring adiposity markers. Familial exposure to arsenic, as measured in mothers 15-20 years before offspring follow-up, is associated with increased odds of offspring T2D. More research is needed to confirm findings and better understand the importance of family exposure to arsenic in adult-onset diabetes.

Keywords: American Indians; Arsenic; Fasting glucose; Indigenous populations; Insulin resistance; Prenatal exposures; Prospective cohort studies.

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Conflict of interest statement

Declaration of Competing Interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.

Figures

Figure 1:
Figure 1:
Median and interquartile range (IQR) for maternal and offspring total arsenic by offspring characteristics Age, smoking status, and BMI were measured at baseline, while fasting glucose and HOMA2-IR are from SHFS visit 5
Figure 2:
Figure 2:
Spearman correlation matrix for maternal total arsenic, offspring total arsenic, offspring glucose, and offspring HOMA2-IR
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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