Hand- and Object-Mouthing of Rural Bangladeshi Children 3-18 Months Old.
Children are exposed to environmental contaminants by placing contaminated hands or objects in their mouths. We quantified hand- and object-mouthing frequencies of Bangladeshi children and determined if they differ from those of U.S. children to evaluate the appropriateness of applying U.S. exposure models in other socio-cultural contexts. We conducted a five-hour structured observation of the mouthing behaviors of 148 rural Bangladeshi children aged 3-18 months. We modeled mouthing frequencies using 2-parameter Weibull distributions to compare the modeled medians with those of U.S. children. In Bangladesh the median frequency of hand-mouthing was 37.3 contacts/h for children 3-6 months old, 34.4 contacts/h for children 6-12 months old, and 29.7 contacts/h for children 12-18 months old. The median frequency of object-mouthing was 23.1 contacts/h for children 3-6 months old, 29.6 contacts/h for children 6-12 months old, and 15.2 contacts/h for children 12-18 months old. At all ages both hand- and object-mouthing frequencies were higher than those of U.S. children. Mouthing frequencies were not associated with child location (indoor/outdoor). Using hand- and object-mouthing exposure models from U.S. and other high-income countries might not accurately estimate children's exposure to environmental contaminants via mouthing in low- and middle-income countries.
Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305, USA. lakwong@stanford.edu.
Laura H
LH
Kwong
Division of Epidemiology, School of Public Health, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA. aercumen@berkeley.edu.
Ayse
A
Ercumen
Woods Institute for the Environment, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305, USA. amyjanel@stanford.edu.
Amy J
AJ
Pickering
International Centre for Diarrhoeal Disease Research, Dhaka 1212, Bangladesh. leanne@icddrb.org.
Leanne
L
Unicomb
Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305, USA. jennadavis@stanford.edu.|Woods Institute for the Environment, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305, USA. jennadavis@stanford.edu.
Jennifer
J
Davis
Woods Institute for the Environment, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305, USA. sluby@stanford.edu.
Stephen P
SP
Luby
D001459:Bangladesh; D004781:Environmental Exposure / Q000032:analysis* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D004785:Environmental Pollutants; D005006:Ethnicity; D005260:Female; D006225:Hand; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D008297:Male; D009043:Motor Activity; D009055:Mouth; D018570:Risk Assessment; D014481:United States
D004785:Environmental Pollutants
Bangladesh; child behavior; exposure factors; mouthing; non-dietary ingestion; rural