ArticleBulletin of environmental contamination and toxicology2012
Metal contamination and the epidemic of congenital birth defects in Iraqi cities.
Article in Bulletin of environmental contamination and toxicology, 2012. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 14 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
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Who cites it
14 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 70 citations in OpenAlex.
- Toenails as a biomarker of exposure to arsenic: A review.Environmental research · 2021Pooled it
- Weaponised uranium and adverse health outcomes in Iraq: a systematic review.BMJ global health · 2021Pooled it
- Late modern war and theSecurity dialogue · 2025Article
- Heavy metals and trace elements in maternal blood and prevalence of congenital limb abnormalities among newborns: the Japan Environment and Children's Study.Environmental health and preventive medicine · 2024Article
- Burden of congenital and hereditary anomalies in the war-affected territory at Pakistan-Afghanistan border.Asian biomedicine : research, reviews and news · 2022Article
- A cross-sectional study of brownfields and birth defects.Birth defects research · 2022Article
- Developmental toxicant exposures and sex-specific effects on epigenetic programming and cardiovascular health across generations.Environmental epigenetics · 2022Review
- Parental metal exposures as potential risk factors for spina bifida in Bangladesh.Environment international · 2021Article
- Article
- Perception Determinants of Women and Healthcare Providers on the Effects of Oil Pollution on Maternal and Newborn Outcomes in the Niger Delta, Nigeria.International journal of women's health · 2020Article
- Prenatal metal exposure in the Middle East: imprint of war in deciduous teeth of children.Environmental monitoring and assessment · 2016Article
- Elevated titanium levels in Iraqi children with neurodevelopmental disorders echo findings in occupation soldiers.Environmental monitoring and assessment · 2015Article
- Health and ecological sustainability in the Arab world: a matter of survival.Lancet (London, England) · 2014Article
- Uranium concentration in blood samples of Southern Iraqi leukemia patients using CR-39 track detector.Journal of radioanalytical and nuclear chemistryArticle
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
6 authors at 4 institutions in 3 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Between October 1994 and October 1995, the number of birth defects per 1,000 live births in Al Basrah Maternity Hospital was 1.37. In 2003, the number of birth defects in Al Basrah Maternity Hospital was 23 per 1,000 live births. Within less than a decade, the occurrence of congenital birth defects increased by an astonishing 17-fold in the same hospital. A yearly account of the occurrence and types of birth defects, between 2003 and 2011, in Al Basrah Maternity Hospital, was reported. Metal levels in hair, toenail, and tooth samples of residents of Al Basrah were also provided. The enamel portion of the deciduous tooth from a child with birth defects from Al Basrah (4.19 μg/g) had nearly three times higher lead than the whole teeth of children living in unimpacted areas. Lead was 1.4 times higher in the tooth enamel of parents of children with birth defects (2,497 ± 1,400 μg/g, mean ± SD) compared to parents of normal children (1,826 ± 1,819 μg/g). Our data suggested that birth defects in the Iraqi cities of Al Basrah (in the south of Iraq) and Fallujah (in central Iraq) are mainly folate-dependent. This knowledge offers possible treatment options and remediation plans for at-risk Iraqi populations.
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