Relation between in utero arsenic exposure and growth during the first year of life in a New Hampshire pregnancy cohort

Abstract

Background-We have previously reported that in utero arsenic exposure is associated with increased length and other anthropometric outcomes at birth in a U.S. cohort. However, it is unknown whether these anthropometric differences persist through early life. Objectives-We assessed in utero arsenic exposure in relation to attained anthropometry and growth trajectories through the first year of life. Methods-Among 760 mother-infant pairs from the New Hampshire Birth Cohort Study, we assessed in utero arsenic exposure using maternal second trimester urinary arsenic and assessed infant growth from medical records. Results-Median maternal second trimester total urinary arsenic (tAs; inorganic arsenic + monomethylarsonic acid + dimethylarsinic acid) was 3.96 μg/L (IQR: 2.02, 6.72). In adjusted linear mixed effects models, each doubling of maternal urinary tAs was associated with a 0.

Maternal Exposure to Arsenic and Its Impact on Maternal and Fetal Health: A Review

“…More evidence concluded that maternal and in-utero exposure to arsenic increases the risk of infections during the first year of life, particularly diarrhea and respiratory symptoms [40]. Additionally, male infants were observed to have increased length and decreased head and chest circumference, later confirmed by another study, and found to persist for the first year of life [42,43,85,97].…”

Update of the risk assessment of inorganic arsenic in food

“…The CONTAM Panel identified 40 additional papers that were not included in the EFSA 2009 Opinion. In 25 of these papers, As exposure and birth weight were reported, but the studies were not considered further either because exposure was assessed by total As in blood, serum or urine and it was not possible to evaluate the contributions of organic vs. inorganic As (Bermúdez et al., 2015 ; Bloom et al., 2015 ; Deyssenroth et al., 2018 ; Govarts et al., 2016 ; Guan et al., 2012 ; Hameed et al., 2019 ; Henn et al., 2016 ; Lee et al., 2021 ; Liao et al., 2018 ; Liu et al., 2018 ; Mullin et al., 2019 ; Nyanza et al., 2020 , Rahman, Oken, et al., 2021 ; Remy et al., 2014 ; Röllin et al., 2017 ; Wang, Li, Zhang, et al, 2018 ; Wang, Wang, Wang, et al., 2022 ; Xu et al., 2011 ; Xu, Hansen, et al., 2022 ), and/or the papers did not explicitly report associations between As exposure and birth weight (Fei et al., 2013 ; Mullin et al., 2019 ; Muse et al., 2020 ; Remy et al., 2014 ; Saha et al., 2012 ; Thomas et al., 2015 ; Wai et al., 2020 ; Wei, Shi, et al., 2017 ).…”

“…Four cohort studies including mother–child pairs investigated the associations between iAs and children's growth, two of which were from Bangladesh and one from the US (Gardner et al., 2013 ; Igra et al., 2021 ; Muse et al., 2020 ; Saha et al., 2012 ). One of the studies measured concentrations of iAs in urine only in mothers during pregnancy, whereas the other two measured it also in the children.…”

“…A third study from Bangladesh which followed the children until the age of 10 years did not observe associations between iAs and growth (Igra et al., 2021 ). A study from the US observed an association between concentrations of iAs in urine and increased length during the first year of life (Muse et al., 2020 ). However, although the association was statistically significant the magnitude of the effect was very small, each doubling of tAs increased the length among males with 0.12 cm and among females with 0.13 cm.…”