Possible Health Effects of Living in Proximity to Mining Sites Near Potosí, Bolivia

Farag, Sara; Das, Riva; Strosnider, William H.J.; Wilson, Robin Taylor

doi:10.1097/jom.0000000000000401

Cited by 10 publications

(4 citation statements)

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“…Although the present study did not estimate exposure and potential health effects in adults, it is worth noting that a study by Farag et al (2015) found that non-smoking women living in mining towns 30 to 40 km south of the city of Potosí had blood Pb levels that were 3-fold higher than non-smoking women living in non-mining villages in Bolivia and 20-fold higher than the U.S. average. While Farag et al (2015) did not examine the relationship between blood Pb levels and housing characteristics, the majority of individuals surveyed indicated that they lived in households with earthen floors.…”

Section: Potential Health Risksmentioning

confidence: 87%

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Residential metal contamination and potential health risks of exposure in adobe brick houses in Potosí, Bolivia

McEwen

Hsu‐Kim

Robins

et al. 2016

Science of The Total Environment

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Potosí, Bolivia, is the site of centuries of historic and present-day mining of the Cerro Rico, a mountain known for its rich polymetallic deposits, and was the site of large-scale Colonial era silver refining operations. In this study, the concentrations of several metal and metalloid elements were quantified in adobe brick, dirt floor, and surface dust samples from 49 houses in Potosí. Median concentrations of total mercury (Hg), lead (Pb), and arsenic (As) were significantly greater than concentrations measured in Sucre, Bolivia, a non-mining town, and exceeded US-based soil screening levels. Adobe brick samples were further analyzed for bioaccessible concentrations of trace elements using a simulated gastric fluid (GF) extraction. Median GF extractable concentrations of Hg, As, and Pb were 0.085, 13.9, and 32.2% of the total element concentration, respectively. Total and GF extractable concentrations of Hg, As, and Pb were used to estimate exposure and potential health risks to children following incidental ingestion of adobe brick particles. Risks were assessed using a range of potential ingestion rates (50-1000mg/day). Overall, the results of the risk assessment show that the majority of households sampled contained concentrations of bioaccessible Pb and As, but not Hg, that represent a potential health risk. Even at the lowest ingestion rate considered, the majority of households exceeded the risk threshold for Pb, indicating that the concentrations of this metal are of particular concern. To our knowledge, this is the first study to quantify key trace elements in building materials in adobe brick houses and the results indicate that these houses are a potential source of exposure to metals and metalloids in South American mining communities. Additional studies are needed to fully characterize personal exposure and to understand potential adverse health outcomes within the community.

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Section: Potential Health Risksmentioning

confidence: 87%

“…While Farag et al (2015) did not examine the relationship between blood Pb levels and housing characteristics, the majority of individuals surveyed indicated that they lived in households with earthen floors. It is unclear if these households were built of adobe bricks as well.…”

Section: Potential Health Risksmentioning

confidence: 97%

Residential metal contamination and potential health risks of exposure in adobe brick houses in Potosí, Bolivia

McEwen

Hsu‐Kim

Robins

et al. 2016

Science of The Total Environment

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“…Workplace exposure contributes substantially to the burden of multiple chronic respiratory diseases, such as IPF, for instance, has a population-attributable fraction of 26% ( 34 ). In addition to the high ILD burden, participants in a study living in proximity to mining sites near Potosi, Bolivia, had higher frequencies of hypertension, hematuria, and ketonuria, and the majority of adobe brick houses in Potosi, Bolivia, contained concentrations of bio-accessible Pb and As, which represent a potential health risk ( 35 , 36 ). Therefore, effective measures are urgently required to protect residents from contaminated environments.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Global trends of interstitial lung diseases from 1990 to 2019: an age–period–cohort study based on the Global Burden of Disease study 2019, and projections until 2030

Jiang

2023

Front. Med.

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BackgroundInterstitial lung diseases (ILDs) are indispensable components of chronic respiratory diseases and global health challenges. We aimed to explore the global long-term changes in the prevalence, mortality, and disability-adjusted life years (DALYs) of ILDs; investigate the independent effect of age, period, and cohort; and project the disease burden over the next decade.MethodsData were retrieved from the Global Burden of Disease (GBD) database 2019. The joinpoint regression model was used to calculate the average annual percent change (AAPC). An age–period–cohort (APC) analysis was employed to measure the independent effect of age, period, and cohort. The Bayesian age–period–cohort (BAPC) model was used to project the global epidemiological trends until 2030.ResultsFrom 1990 to 2019, the age-standardized prevalence rate (ASPR), age-standardized mortality rate (ASMR), and age-standardized disability-adjusted life years (DALYs) rate (ASDR) of interstitial lung disease and pulmonary sarcoidosis (ILD) slightly increased from 52.66 per 100,000 [95% uncertainty interval (UI) 44.49 to 61.07] to 57.62 per 100,000 (95% UI 49.42 to 65.67), from 1.76 per 100,000 (95% UI 1.41 to 2.22) to 2.17 per 100,000 (95% UI 1.5 to 2.62), and from 41.57 per 100,000 (95% UI 33.93 to 51.92) to 46.45 per 100,000 (95% UI 35.12 to 54.98), whereas the ASPR, ASMR, and ASDR of pneumoconiosis decreased. High social-demographic index (SDI) regions possessed the highest ASPR, whereas low-middle SDI regions had the highest ASMR and ASDR, followed by low-SDI regions in ILD. Middle-SDI regions reported the highest ASPR, ASMR, and ASDR in pneumoconiosis. The age effect showed that the rate ratio (RR) was high in older adults. Period effect indicated that the RR of prevalence increased over time, whereas the RR of mortality and DALYs decreased in men but increased in women. The cohort effect exhibited that the more recent birth cohort had a higher RR than the previous cohort in prevalence. We projected that ASPR, ASMR, and ASDR would stabilize with little variation over the next decade.ConclusionThe global burden of ILDs remains relatively severe, especially among older adults, in low- and middle-SDI regions. Effective measurements are expected to improve this situation.

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“…La trombosis renal también puede causar hematuria, dolor en el flanco y oliguria, y es más frecuente en la población neonatal [46]. Otra causa de hematuria en los niños podría estar dada por el consumo de agua contaminada con metales pesados como plomo, mercurio y cadmio, como se encontró en población adulta residente en lugares cercanos a minas de extracción intensiva en Bolivia [27].…”

Section: Hematuria En La Niñez: Revisión Sistemática Cualitativaunclassified

Hematuria en la niñez: revisión sistemática cualitativa

et al. 2017

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Introducción: la hematuria aislada en niños es un hallazgo frecuente en la práctica clínica diaria del médico general y el pediatra, y un reto diagnóstico para averiguar su etiología y manejo. Objetivo: describir las pautas básicas para el diagnóstico y manejo de la hematuria aislada en menores de 18 años por el médico general y el pediatra. Materiales y métodos: se realizó una búsqueda bibliográfica sistemática en las bases de datos PubMed, ScienceDirect, LILACS y Embase, utilizando palabras claves del DeCS (español) y MeSH (inglés), mediante las combinaciones con la conjunción “AND” o la disyunción “OR”, de manuscritos tipo estudios observacionales, ensayos clínicos, guías de práctica clínica y revisiones sistemáticas, publicados entre 1995 y 2017, que describieran el diagnóstico y el manejo básico de la hematuria. La calidad de los artículos fue evaluada por medio de los instrumentos PRISMA, CONSORT y STROBE, según correspondiera. Resultados: se identificaron 402 publicaciones, de las cuales 34 cumplieron con los criterios y 28 fueron seleccionadas para realizar esta revisión. Conclusiones: la hematuria aislada se define por el hallazgo de cinco eritrocitos por campo de alto poder en orina fresca centrifugada o más de cinco eritrocitos por microlitro en orina fresca no centrifugada. El diagnóstico y tratamiento se realiza por pasos: a) historia clínica y b) confirmación por microscopía óptica de alta resolución. Diferenciar la hematuria benigna de las que requieren paraclínicos de extensión es primordial para confirmarla más tempranamente, evitar procedimientos invasivos, disminuir el gasto en salud y hacer un seguimiento predictivo.

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Possible Health Effects of Living in Proximity to Mining Sites Near Potosí, Bolivia

Abstract: Efforts to abate environmental exposure to toxic metals seem warranted.

Cited by 10 publications

References 22 publications

Residential metal contamination and potential health risks of exposure in adobe brick houses in Potosí, Bolivia

Residential metal contamination and potential health risks of exposure in adobe brick houses in Potosí, Bolivia

Global trends of interstitial lung diseases from 1990 to 2019: an age–period–cohort study based on the Global Burden of Disease study 2019, and projections until 2030

Hematuria en la niñez: revisión sistemática cualitativa

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