Association between nutritional status and arsenicosis due to chronic arsenic exposure in Bangladesh

Milton, Abul Hasnat; Hasan, Ziaul; Shahidullah, S. M.; Sharmin, Sinthia; Jakariya, Md.; Rahman, Mahfuzar; Dear, Keith; Smith, Wayne

doi:10.1080/0960312042000209516

Cited by 89 publications

(46 citation statements)

References 34 publications

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“…An epidemiological study conducted in West Bengal, India showed male gender and malnutrition correlated with increased prevalence of skin manifestations in arsenic exposed population [20]. In a recent study, an association between nutritional status and chronic exposure to arsenic has been reported among Bangladeshi patients [21].…”

Section: Number Of Patients With Clinical Symptomsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Association of Clinical Complications with Nutritional Status and the Prevalence of Leukopenia among Arsenic Patients in Bangladesh

Islam

Nabi

Rahman

et al. 2004

IJERPH

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This study conducted in Bangladesh reports the relationship of clinical complications with nutritional status and the prevalence of leukopenia among arsenic exposed patients living in the rural villages. A total of 115 exposed individuals diagnosed as arsenicosis patients were randomly selected from four known arsenic endemic villages, and age-matched 120 unexposed subjects were enrolled in the study program. The duration of arsenic exposure in about 37% of the patients was at least 10 yrs, while the population mean and range were 7.6 ± 5.2 yrs, and 1 -25 yrs, respectively. The mean arsenic concentrations in the drinking water for the exposed and unexposed (control) population were 218.1 µg/L and 11.3 µg/L, respectively. The spot urine sample of the arsenicosis patients contained an average of 234.6 µg/L arsenic. Although very few patients showed elevated WBC count, 16% had leukopenia (below normal count), and the whole population had significantly low WBC count than the control subjects. Prevalences of neutropenia and lymphocytosis were observed in patients with chronic exposure to high levels of arsenic in water. The body mass index was found to be lower than 18.5, the cut-off point for malnutrition (underweight), in about 28% of the arsenicosis cases compared to 15% of the controls. The monthly income and total calorie consumption per day showed the patients were underprivileged than the controls. Arsenical symptoms and complications were more severe in the nutritionally vulnerable (underweight) patients than the overweight ones. Also, the incidences of leukopenia and anaemia were more common in the female patients who were underweight. The findings of this research demonstrate that the poor nutritional status of patients increases the complications of chronic arsenic toxicity; suggest the possibility of other sources of arsenic contamination different from drinking water in the study area; and establish a higher prevalence of leukopenia and lymphocytosis in arsenicosis patients.

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Section: Number Of Patients With Clinical Symptomsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Association of Clinical Complications with Nutritional Status and the Prevalence of Leukopenia among Arsenic Patients in Bangladesh

Islam

Nabi

Rahman

et al. 2004

IJERPH

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“…The studies were reported that low socio-economic status and poor nutritional status of arsenicosis sufferers people in Taiwan and Chile [16], [17], [19], [41]. Lower BMI was reported among the arsenicosis patients compared to the unexposed population in a previous study in Bangladesh [40]. However, a study from Atacameño in northern Chile reported no evidence of malnutrition among individuals with arsenic induced skin lesions [42].…”

Section: G Association Between Bmi and Arsenic Concentration In Urinementioning

confidence: 90%

“…Among the obesity 50.00%, 33.33% and 16.67% of the sample respondents contained more than 200 to 500, more than 500 to 1000 and more than 1000 μg/g arsenic in urine, respectively. In a recent study, an association between nutritional status and chronic exposure to arsenic has been reported among Bangladeshi patients [40]. Number of sample respondents in the parentheses.…”

Section: G Association Between Bmi and Arsenic Concentration In Urinementioning

confidence: 99%

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Assessment of Arsenic Exposure to Human, Concentrations in Tube Well Water and Urine, and Body Mass Index

Sarker¹

2011

IJESD

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Abstract-Arsenic in drinking water is a major public health concern in Bangladesh, affecting several millions of people who live in rural areas, because of insufficient financial resources and public health infrastructure and lack of awareness. The present study empirically analyzes the arsenic exposure to human, arsenic concentration in urine and tube well water and body mass index of sample respondents of a population survey.

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“…This is an expensive procedure but its use is at last beginning to assist with compiling a list of registered sufferers, for whom some remediation may be possible through better nutrition and a switch to the consumption of safe water. The irony here is that the best treatment for arsenic would be to cure poverty since it is people in the lowest income quartile and the malnourished who are most susceptible to arsenicosis and to the accompanying socio-economic fallout (WHO, 2000;Milton et al, 2004;Hadi and Parveen, 2004).…”

Section: Expert Knowledgesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Environmental Irony: Summoning Death in Bangladesh

2007

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The full-text may be used and/or reproduced, and given to third parties in any format or medium, without prior permission or charge, for personal research or study, educational, or not-for-pro t purposes provided that:• a full bibliographic reference is made to the original source • a link is made to the metadata record in DRO • the full-text is not changed in any way The full-text must not be sold in any format or medium without the formal permission of the copyright holders.Please consult the full DRO policy for further details. In the 1980s symptoms of what seemed at first to be a strange skin disease began to appear in the rural areas of Bangladesh and West Bengal (India). The numbers were small but by the 1990s there was a flood of cases of hyperpigmentation (dark spots), and also small hardened lumps (keratoses) on hands and feet, which were often disabling, as a result of proneness to fungal infections, and occasionally they became malignant. An epidemiological link was eventually made to water consumption because these symptoms were similar to those of arsenic poisoning in Taiwan, with its associated 'blackfoot disease'. The laboratory testing of Bengali patients' hair confirmed the diagnosis of arsenicosis and there is no longer any doubt that a major problem exists. By analogy with Taiwan, consumption of arseniccontaminated water in Bangladesh over periods of 5-20 years will lead to cancers of the lung, bladder and kidney; hypertension; cardiovascular disease; and peripheral vascular disease, which is characterised by black skin discolouration, ulceration and possibly dry gangrene (WHO, 2001; IPCS, 2001; Chen and Ahsan, 2004).Gradually, very gradually in the 1990s, it dawned on the Bangladeshi authorities that they had discovered perhaps 'the largest mass poisoning of a population in history' ( The present paper contemplates the meanings of irony in an environmental context, concentrating on one, that of indeterminacy. This is used to show that there is very little by way of a stable understanding of the 'crisis' that has been identified so confidently in the media. First, we show that spatial and depth variabilities in arsenic content are extraordinary at the local scale, making analysis, interpolation and prediction highly problematic. Then we revisit the vexed issue of safety standards. The threshold of the level of arsenic that is safe to consume is by no means straightforward and shifting from the Bangladesh standard to that of the World Health Organization (WHO) nearly doubles the population estimated to be 'at risk'. Third, we turn to the issue of measurement and find that the field testing kits (FTKs), at least in the way they are used, do not provide a sufficiently accurate and reliable foundation for the dataset upon which much of the debate about arsenic in Bangladesh is based. This undermines the scientific credibility of some of the remedial measures taken so far in the field. Next the paper investigates the nature of lay and expert knowledges of arsenic. These are in a nascent state, with...

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Association between nutritional status and arsenicosis due to chronic arsenic exposure in Bangladesh

Cited by 89 publications

References 34 publications

Association of Clinical Complications with Nutritional Status and the Prevalence of Leukopenia among Arsenic Patients in Bangladesh

Association of Clinical Complications with Nutritional Status and the Prevalence of Leukopenia among Arsenic Patients in Bangladesh

Assessment of Arsenic Exposure to Human, Concentrations in Tube Well Water and Urine, and Body Mass Index

Environmental Irony: Summoning Death in Bangladesh

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