Differences in Urinary Arsenic Metabolites between Diabetic and Non-Diabetic Subjects in Bangladesh

International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health

Saika Nizam³  Masashi Kato¹  Hiroshi Yatsuya²  Md. Khalequzzaman³  Shoko Ohnuma¹  Hisao Naito³ 

[1] Department of Biomedical Sciences, College of Life and Health Sciences, Chubu University, 1200 Matsumoto-cho, Kasugai-shi, Aichi 487-8501, Japan; E-Mails:;Department of Public Health, Fujita Health University School of Medicine, 1-98 Dengakugakubo, Kutsukake-cho, Toyoake-shi, Aichi 470-1192, Japan; E-Mail:;Department of Occupational and Environmental Health, Nagoya University Graduate School of Medicine, 65 Tsurumai-cho, Showa-ku, Nagoya 466-8550, Japan; E-Mails:

关键词: arsenic;    metabolites;    diabetes;    Bangladesh;    urine;   

DOI  :  10.3390/ijerph10031006

来源: mdpi

【 摘 要 】

Ingestion of inorganic arsenic (iAs) is considered to be related to the development of diabetes mellitus. In order to clarify the possible differences in the metabolism in diabetics, we measured urinary iAs metabolites in diabetic cases and non-diabetic control subjects in Faridpur, an arsenic-contaminated area in Bangladesh. Physician-diagnosed type 2 diabetic cases (140 persons) and non-diabetic controls (180 persons) were recruited. Drinking water and spot urine samples were collected. Mean concentrations of total arsenic in drinking water did not differ between cases (85.1 μg/L) and controls (85.8 μg/L). The percentage of urinary iAs (iAs%) was significantly lower in cases (8.6%) than in controls (10.4%), while that of dimethylarsinic acid (DMA%) was higher in cases (82.6%) than in controls (79.9%). This may have been due to the higher secondary methylation index (SMI) in the former (11.6) rather than the latter (10.0). Adjusting for matching factors (sex and unions), and the additional other covariates (age and water arsenic) significantly attenuated the differences in iAs%, SMI, and DMA%, respectively, though the difference in monomethylarsonic acid% was newly significant in the latter adjustment. Our study did not suggest any significant differences in urinary arsenic metabolites between diabetic and non-diabetic subjects.

【 授权许可】

CC BY   
© 2013 by the authors; licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.