TABLE 19
Key epidemiological studies on children's growth in humans in relation to iAs exposure.
| Reference study population design | Outcome definition | Population size (n) case/control | Arsenic exposure | Results | Additional information/confounders |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Saha et al. (2012) Bangladesh Cohort study | Weight and length from birth to 2 years of age | 2372 mother–child pairs |
Urinary exposure of iAs, μg/L (median) Mothers at 8 weeks gestation: 80.9 Mothers at 30 weeks gestation: 84.0 Children at 18 months: 34.2 | No significant associations at 2 years of age when comparing highest versus lowest quintiles in the adjusted analyses | Adjusted for age, sex, maternal BMI and SES |
|
Gardner et al. (2013) Bangladesh Cohort study | Children's weight and height at 5 years of age | 1505 mother–child pairs |
Urinary exposure of u‐tiAs μg/L (median) Mothers at 8 weeks gestation: 82 Children at 5 years: 51 |
Adjusted differences when comparing the highest (≥ 95th percentile) with the lowest (≤ 5th percentile): Weight: −0.33 kg (95% CI; −0.60, −0.06) Height: −0.50 cm (95% CI; −1.20, 0.21) The associations were apparent primarily among girls |
Adjusted for child's sex, family SES, season of birth, gestational age, maternal education, maternal height or BMI, maternal tobacco chewing, indoor cooking without ventilation and birth order The study did also include Cd and Pb |
|
Muse et al. (2020) New Hampshire, USA Cohort study | Growth parameters from medical records at different timepoints during the first year | 760 mother–child pairs |
Urinary exposure, μg/L (median) Maternal in second trimester iAs 0.36 MMA 0.34 DMA 2.84 u‐tiAs 3.96 |
Each doubling of urinary u‐tiAs increased the length over the first year of life with ~ 0.12 cm in males and 0.13 cm in females No associations with weight gain, change in weight‐for‐length and head circumferences | Adjusted for gestational age, sex, maternal BMI, IOM gestational weight gain, education, parity, duration of breast feeding and smoking |
|
Igra et al. (2021) Bangladesh Cohort study | Growth until the age of 10 years | 1530 mother–child pairs |
Maternal erythrocytes during pregnancy, μg/kg (median): 4.3 Total urinary in children's urine at age 10 years, μg/L (median): 57 | No associations with growth up to 10 years | Adjusted for gender, age at 10 years, maternal parity, education, socioeconomic status, maternal height and weight |
Abbreviations: BMI, body mass index; Cd, cadmium; CI, confidence interval; DMA, sum of dimethylarsinous acid and dimethylarsinic acid; iAs, inorganic arsenic; IOM, Institute of Medicine; MMA, sum of monomethylarsonous acid and monomethylarsonic acid; n, number; Pb, lead; SES, socioeconomic status; u‐tiAs, total urinary iAs (sum of iAs and its methylated metabolites MMA and DMA), USA, United States of America.