Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2022 May 15:208:112697.
doi: 10.1016/j.envres.2022.112697. Epub 2022 Jan 8.

Arsenic exposure from drinking water and endothelial dysfunction in Bangladeshi adolescents

Affiliations

Arsenic exposure from drinking water and endothelial dysfunction in Bangladeshi adolescents

Shohreh F Farzan et al. Environ Res. .

Abstract

Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is the leading cause of morbidity and mortality worldwide, with ∼80% of CVD-related deaths occurring in low- and middle-income countries. Growing evidence suggests that chronic arsenic exposure may contribute to CVD through its effect on endothelial function in adults. However, few studies have examined the influence of arsenic exposure on cardiovascular health in children and adolescents. To examine arsenic's relation to preclinical markers of endothelial dysfunction, we enrolled 200 adolescent children (ages 15-19 years; median 17) of adult participants in the Health Effects of Arsenic Longitudinal Study (HEALS), in Araihazar, Bangladesh. Participants' arsenic exposure was determined by recall of lifetime well usage for drinking water. As part of HEALS, wells were color-coded to indicate arsenic level (<10 μg/L, 10-50 μg/L, >50 μg/L). Endothelial function was measured by recording fingertip arterial pulsatile volume change and reactive hyperemia index (RHI) score, an independent CVD risk factor, was calculated from these measurements. In linear regression models adjusted for participant's sex, age, education, maternal education, land ownership and body weight, individuals who reported always drinking water from wells with >50 μg/L arsenic had a 11.75% lower level of RHI (95% CI: -21.26, -1.09, p = 0.03), as compared to participants who drank exclusively from wells with ≤50 μg/L arsenic. Sex-stratified analyses suggest that these associations were stronger in female participants. As compared to individuals who drank exclusively from wells with ≤50 μg/L arsenic, the use of wells with >50 μg/L arsenic was associated with 14.36% lower RHI (95% CI: -25.69, -1.29, p = 0.03) in females, as compared to 5.35% lower RHI (95% CI: -22.28, 15.37, p = 0.58) in males for the same comparison. Our results suggest that chronic arsenic exposure may be related to endothelial dysfunction in adolescents, especially among females. Further work is needed to confirm these findings and examine whether these changes may increase risk of later adverse cardiovascular health events.

Keywords: Adolescents; Arsenic; Bangladesh; Cardiovascular; Endothelial function; Tube well.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Competing financial interest: None to declare.

Declaration of interests

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.

Similar articles

Cited by

References

    1. WHO, W.H.O., Guidelines for drinking-water quality, fourth edition 2011.
    1. International Agency for Research on Cancer, I., IARC Monographs on the Evaluation of Carcinogenic Risks to Humans: Some Drinking-water Disinfectants and Contaminants, including Arsenic. 2004: Lyon, France. - PMC - PubMed
    1. National Research Council, N., Critical Aspects of EPA’s IRIS Assessment of Inorganic Arsenic: Interim Report. 2014, National Research Council: Washington, DC.
    1. Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease, A., Toxicological Profile for Arsenic. 2007, US Dept of Health and Human Services. - PubMed
    1. Naujokas MF, Anderson B, Ahsan H, Aposhian HV, Graziano JH, Thompson C, et al., The broad scope of health effects from chronic arsenic exposure: update on a worldwide public health problem. Environ Health Perspect, 2013. 121(3): p. 295–302. - PMC - PubMed

Publication types

-