Cohort profile: health effects monitoring programme in Ndilǫ, Dettah and Yellowknife (YKHEMP)

Abstract

PurposeThe Yellowknife Health Effects Monitoring Programme (YKHEMP) was established to examine the relationship of exposure to arsenic and other chemicals of potential concern such as antimony, cadmium, lead, manganese and vanadium and health outcomes.ParticipantsA total of 2037 individuals were recruited, including children (age 3–19) and adults (age 20+), residing in Dettah, Ndilǫ and Yellowknife, in the Northwest Territories, Canada, in two waves in Fall 2017 and Spring 2018. In Yellowknife, there were 891 (675 adults, 216 children), randomly selected participants with a participation rate of 64%. In addition, we also recruited a total of 875 (669 adults, 206 children) volunteer participants. A total of 225 (137 adults, 88 children) of the Yellowknives Dene First Nation (YKDFN), and 46 (33 adults, 13 children) of the North Slave Métis Alliance participated in the study. Each participant answered a lifestyle questionnaire as well as provided toenail clippings and urine for contaminant testing and saliva samples for testing of genetic polymorphisms associated with arsenic metabolism. Participants also provided consent to have their medical records reviewed by the research team for the past 5 years to allow for the investigation between exposure and health outcomes.Findings to dateThe adult YKHEMP participants had lower urinary total arsenic but the children had higher inorganic arsenic than the general Canadian population. There was no difference in urinary total arsenic concentrations between adults and children, however, urinary inorganic arsenic concentrations were generally higher in children than in adults in all four YKHEMP sampling groups. The adult YKDFN participants had lower urinary total arsenic and inorganic arsenic concentrations compared with the random selected and volunteer participants.Future plansYKHEMP is designed as a prospective cohort study; the children participants will be re-examined in 2022 and both adult and children participants in 2027.

Adult Exposures to Toxic Trace Elements as Measured in Nails along the Interoceanic Highway in the Peruvian Amazon

“…As the first study in the region examining TTEs in nails, our work provides insight into environmental health exposure risks in Madre de Dios. Concentrations of Cd and Pb were higher in this study population than in an indigenous Canadian population living near a closed gold mine, and the median Hg in this population was over three times the median Hg of a Nicaraguan gold mining community [31,32]. While the results cannot be used in clinical diagnoses, the range of concentrations and covariate data collected by the survey provide an opportunity to test potential exposure routes.…”

“…Elevated concentrations of TTE in nails were associated with negative health outcomes including increased blood pressure, hypertension, and mental stress [31,32].…”

Tensions in Fostering ‘local food’ in the Northwest Territories: Contending with Settler Colonialism in Northern Research

“…The history of gold mining in Yellowknife is representative of settler colonial decisionmaking that has long favoured colonial-capitalist extractivism over the health and wellbeing of the land and people. There is vital research being carried out across the affected sites to ascertain how severe these risks are for human health, determining concentrate amounts of arsenic in different lakes and soils, and among various plant and animal species (Chan et al, 2020;Palmer et al, 2015;Tanamal et al, 2020). Even with new insights generated from these and other studies, arsenic in Yellowknife remains a contentious issue.…”