Consumption of low-moderate level arsenic contaminated water does not increase spontaneous pregnancy loss: a case control study

Environmental Health

Research

Simona Surdu¹  Michael S Bloom²  Edward F Fitzgerald²  Iulia A Neamtiu³  Ioana Rodica Lupsa³  Cristian Pop³  Eugen S Gurzau⁴  Doru Anastasiu⁵ 

[1] Department of Environmental Health Sciences, University at Albany, State University of New York, School of Public Health, Rensselaer, NY, USA;Department of Environmental Health Sciences, University at Albany, State University of New York, School of Public Health, Rensselaer, NY, USA;Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, University at Albany, State University of New York, School of Public Health, Rensselaer, NY, USA;Environmental Health Center, Cluj-Napoca, Romania;Environmental Health Center, Cluj-Napoca, Romania;University of Medicine and Pharmacy “Iuliu Haţieganu”, Cluj-Napoca, Romania;University of Medicine and Pharmacy “Victor Babes”, Timisoara, Romania;Obstetrics and Gynecology Department of the Emergency County Hospital, Timisoara, Romania;

关键词: Arsenic;    Cigarette smoking;    Drinking water;    Human reproduction;    Pregnancy loss;    Spontaneous abortion;   

DOI  :  10.1186/1476-069X-13-81

 received in 2014-07-28, accepted in 2014-10-06,  发布年份 2014

来源: Springer

【 摘 要 】

BackgroundPrevious work suggests an increased risk for spontaneous pregnancy loss linked to high levels of inorganic arsenic (iAs) in drinking water sources (>10 μg/L). However, there has been little focus to date on the impact of low-moderate levels of iAs in drinking water (<10 μg/L). To address this data gap we conducted a hospital-based case–control study in Timis County, Romania.MethodsWe recruited women with incident spontaneous pregnancy loss of 5–20 weeks completed gestation as cases (n = 150), and women with ongoing pregnancies matched by gestational age (±1 week) as controls (n = 150). Participants completed a physician-administered questionnaire and we collected water samples from residential drinking sources. We reconstructed residential drinking water exposure histories using questionnaire data weighted by iAs determined using hydride generation-atomic absorption spectrometry (HG-AAS). Logistic regression models were used to generate odds ratios (OR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI) for associations between iAs exposure and loss, conditioned on gestational age and adjusted for maternal age, cigarette smoking, education and prenatal vitamin use. We explored potential interactions in a second set of models.ResultsDrinking water arsenic concentrations ranged from 0.0 to 175.1 μg/L, with median 0.4 μg/L and 90th%tile 9.4 μg/L. There were no statistically significant associations between loss and average or peak drinking water iAs concentrations (OR 0.98, 95% CI 0.96-1.01), or for daily iAs intake (OR 1.00, 95% CI 0.98-1.02). We detected modest evidence for an interaction between average iAs concentration and cigarette smoking during pregnancy (P = 0.057) and for daily iAs exposure and prenatal vitamin use (P = 0.085).ConclusionsThese results suggest no increased risk for spontaneous pregnancy loss in association with low to moderate level drinking water iAs exposure. Though imprecise, our data also raise the possibility for increased risk among cigarette smokers. Given the low exposures overall, these data should reassure pregnant women and policy makers with regard to the potential effect of drinking water iAs on early pregnancy, though a larger more definitive study to investigate the potential risk increase in conjunction with cigarette smoking is merited.

【 授权许可】

CC BY   
© Bloom et al.; licensee BioMed Central Ltd. 2014