Association between risk of birth defects occurring level and arsenic concentrations in soils of Lvliang, Shanxi province of China.
The risk of birth defects is generally accredited with genetic factors, environmental causes, but the contribution of environmental factors to birth defects is still inconclusive. With the hypothesis of associations of geochemical features distribution and birth defects risk, we collected birth records and measured the chemical components in soil samples from a high prevalence area of birth defects in Shanxi province, China. The relative risk levels among villages were estimated with conditional spatial autoregressive model and the relationships between the risk levels of the villages and the 15 types of chemical elements concentration in the cropland and woodland soils were explored. The results revealed that the arsenic levels in cropland soil showed a significant association with birth defects occurring risk in this area, which is consistent with existing evidences of arsenic as a teratogen and warrants further investigation on arsenic exposure routine to birth defect occurring risk.
Institute of Population Research, Peking University, Beijing, China. Electronic address: wujl@pku.edu.cn.
Jilei
J
Wu
GIS Centre, Ryan Institute and School of Geography and Archaeology, National University of Ireland, Galway, Ireland.
Chaosheng
C
Zhang
Institute of Population Research, Peking University, Beijing, China.
Lijun
L
Pei
Institute of Population Research, Peking University, Beijing, China.
Gong
G
Chen
Institute of Population Research, Peking University, Beijing, China. Electronic address: xzheng@pku.edu.cn.
Xiaoying
X
Zheng
D001151:Arsenic / Q000032:analysis*; D020261:Arsenic Poisoning / Q000453:epidemiology*; D002675:Child, Preschool; D002681:China / Q000453:epidemiology; D016000:Cluster Analysis; D000013:Congenital Abnormalities / Q000453:epidemiology*; D004781:Environmental Exposure / Q000032:analysis; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D011247:Pregnancy; D015995:Prevalence; D012987:Soil / Q000737:chemistry*
D012987:Soil; D001151:Arsenic
Arsenic; Birth defects; Chemical elements; Risk difference; Soil