The relationship between mental retardation and developmental delays in children and the levels of arsenic, mercury and lead in soil samples taken near their mother’s residence during pregnancy

• Published in: International journal of hygiene and environmental health Vol. 213; no. 2; pp. 116 - 123
• Main Authors: Liu, Yuan, McDermott, Suzanne, Lawson, Andrew, Marjorie Aelion, C.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: München Elsevier GmbH 01-03-2010; Elsevier
• Subjects: Adult and adolescent clinical studies; Air. Soil. Water. Waste. Feeding; Arsenic - analysis; Arsenic - toxicity; Bayes Theorem; Biological and medical sciences; Case-Control Studies; Child; Cluster Analysis; Developmental Disabilities - chemically induced; Environment. Living conditions; Female; Humans; Intellectual deficiency; Intellectual Disability - chemically induced; Kriging; Lead - analysis; Lead - toxicity; Male; Maternal Exposure; Maternal residence; Medical sciences; Mental retardation/developmental delay; Mercury - analysis; Mercury - toxicity; Metals - analysis; Metals - toxicity; Nonlinear; Pregnancy; Prenatal Exposure Delayed Effects; Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry; Psychopathology. Psychiatry; Public health. Hygiene; Public health. Hygiene-occupational medicine; Soil - analysis; Soil arsenic; Toxicology; Maternal residence; Nonlinear; Soil arsenic; Kriging; Mental retardation/developmental delay; Human; Arsenic; Sample; Developmental disorder; Mental retardation; Heavy metal; Pregnancy; Residential zone; Soils; Health and environment; Mother; Intellectual deficiency; Lead; Female; Environmental medicine; Woman; Child; Mercury; Public health
• ISSN: 1438-4639; 1618-131X
• DOI: 10.1016/j.ijheh.2009.12.004

This study was designed to evaluate the association between lead, mercury, and arsenic in the soil near maternal residences during pregnancy and mental retardation or developmental disability (MR/DD) in children. The study was conducted using 6,048 mothers who did not move throughout their pregnancies and lived within six strips of land in South Carolina and were insured by Medicaid between January 1, 1997 and December 31, 2002. The mother child pairs were then followed until June 1, 2008, through their Medicaid reimbursement files, to identify children diagnosed with MR/DD. The soil was sampled for mercury (Hg), lead (Pb), and As based on a uniform grid, and the soil concentrations were Kriged to estimate chemical concentration at individual locations. We identified a significant relationship between MR/DD and As, and the form of the relationship was nonlinear, after controlling for other known risk factors.