Journal
JOURNAL OF EXPOSURE SCIENCE AND ENVIRONMENTAL EPIDEMIOLOGY
Volume 24, Issue 5, Pages 467-473Publisher
NATURE PUBLISHING GROUP
DOI: 10.1038/jes.2014.38
Keywords
biological markers; biomarkers; arsenic; prenatal exposure
Funding
- National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS), National Institutes of Health (NIH) [P20 ES018175, P01 ES022832, R01 ES022223]
- National Cancer Institute (NCI), NIH [R25CA134286]
- Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) [RD-83459901, RD-83544201]
- National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) [R01 MH094609]
- NIH [K01AT006162]
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A growing body of evidence suggests that in utero and early-life exposure to arsenic may have detrimental effects on children, even at the low to moderate levels common in the United States and elsewhere. In a sample of 170 mother-infant pairs from New Hampshire, we determined infant exposure to in utero arsenic by evaluating infant toenails as a biomarker using inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry. Infant toenail arsenic concentration correlated with maternal postpartum toenail concentrations (Spearman's correlation coefficient 0.34). In adjusted linear models, a doubling of maternal toenail arsenic concentration was associated with a 53.8% increase in infant toenail arsenic concentration as compared with 20:4% for a doubling of maternal urine arsenic concentration. In a structural equation model, a doubling of the latent variable integrating maternal toenail and urine arsenic concentrations was associated with a 67.5% increase in infant toenail arsenic concentration. A similar correlation between infant and maternal postpartum toenail concentrations was observed in a validation cohort of 130 mother-infant pairs from Rhode Island. In utero exposure to arsenic occurs through maternal water and dietary sources, and infant toenails appear to be a reliable biomarker for estimating arsenic exposure during the critical window of gestation.
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