IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jijerp/v8y2011i3p861-874d11707.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Long-Term Low-Level Arsenic Exposure Is Associated with Poorer Neuropsychological Functioning: A Project FRONTIER Study

Author

Listed:
  • Sid E. O’Bryant

    (F. Marie Hall Institute for Rural and Community Health, Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center, 3601 4th St., STOP 6323, Lubbock, TX 79430, USA
    Department of Neurology, Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center, 3601 4th St., STOP 8321, Lubbock, TX 79430, USA)

  • Melissa Edwards

    (Department of Psychology, Texas Tech University, 2500 Broadway, STOP 2051, Lubbock, TX 79409, USA)

  • Chloe V. Menon

    (Department of Psychology, Texas Tech University, 2500 Broadway, STOP 2051, Lubbock, TX 79409, USA)

  • Gordon Gong

    (F. Marie Hall Institute for Rural and Community Health, Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center, 3601 4th St., STOP 6323, Lubbock, TX 79430, USA)

  • Robert Barber

    (Department of Pharmacology and Neuroscience, Institute for Aging and Alzheimer’s Disease, University of North Texas Health Science Center, 3500 Camp Bowie Boulevard, Ft Worth, TX 76107, USA)

Abstract

Exposure to elements in groundwater (toxic or beneficial) is commonplace yet, outside of lead and mercury, little research has examined the impact of many commonly occurring environmental exposures on mental abilities during the aging process. Inorganic arsenic is a known neurotoxin that has both neurodevelopmental and neurocognitive consequences. The aim of this study was to examine the potential association between current and long-term arsenic exposure and detailed neuropsychological functioning in a sample of rural-dwelling adults and elders. Data were analyzed from 434 participants (133 men and 301 women) of Project FRONTIER, a community-based participatory research study of the epidemiology of health issues of rural-dwelling adults and elders. The results of the study showed that GIS-based groundwater arsenic exposure (current and long-term) was significantly related to poorer scores in language, visuospatial skills, and executive functioning. Additionally, long-term low-level exposure to arsenic was significantly correlated to poorer scores in global cognition, processing speed and immediate memory. The finding of a correlation between arsenic and the domains of executive functioning and memory is of critical importance as these are cognitive domains that reflect the earliest manifestations of Alzheimer’s disease. Additional work is warranted given the population health implications associated with long-term low-level arsenic exposure.

Suggested Citation

  • Sid E. O’Bryant & Melissa Edwards & Chloe V. Menon & Gordon Gong & Robert Barber, 2011. "Long-Term Low-Level Arsenic Exposure Is Associated with Poorer Neuropsychological Functioning: A Project FRONTIER Study," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 8(3), pages 1-14, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:8:y:2011:i:3:p:861-874:d:11707
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/8/3/861/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/8/3/861/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Nozomi Sasaki & David O. Carpenter, 2022. "Associations between Metal Exposures and Cognitive Function in American Older Adults," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(4), pages 1-13, February.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:8:y:2011:i:3:p:861-874:d:11707. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.