ArticleInternational journal of hygiene and environmental health2020
Low level arsenic exposure, B-vitamins, and achievement among Uruguayan school children.
Article in International journal of hygiene and environmental health, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 8 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
8 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 12 citations in OpenAlex.
- Provision of folic acid for reducing arsenic toxicity in arsenic-exposed children and adults.The Cochrane database of systematic reviews · 2021Pooled it
- Low-level arsenic exposure, childhood neighborhood disadvantage, and executive functions in adolescents from Montevideo, Uruguay.Environmental research · 2025Article
- Review
- Update of the risk assessment of inorganic arsenic in food.EFSA journal. European Food Safety Authority · 2024Article
- Maternal Folate Status and the Relation between Gestational Arsenic Exposure and Child Health Outcomes.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2022Article
- Influence of Dietary Compounds on Arsenic Metabolism and Toxicity. Part II-Human Studies.Toxics · 2021Review
- Relationships among Inorganic Arsenic, Nutritional Status CpG Methylation and microRNAs: A Review of the Literature.Epigenetics insights · 2021Review
- Associations of dietary intakes and serum levels of folate and vitamin B-12 with methylation of inorganic arsenic in Uruguayan children: Comparison of findings and implications for future research.Environmental research · 2020Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
10 authors at 4 institutions in 3 countries.
Funding
Abstract
objectivesMillions of children globally, including the U.S., are exposed to low levels of arsenic from water and food. Arsenic is a known neurotoxicant at high levels but its effects at lower exposure levels are understudied. Arsenic methylation capacity, influenced by B-vitamin intake and status, potentially influences arsenic toxicity. In a cross-secitonal study of 5-8 year-old children from Montevideo, we assessed the relationship between urinary arsenic (U-As) and academic achievement, and tested for effect modification by B-vitamin intake, status, and arsenic methylation capacity.
methodsBroad math and reading scores were calculated based on six subtests (calculation, math facts fluency, applied problems, sentence reading fluency, letter word identification, passage comprehension) from the Woodcock-Muñoz Achievement Battery. B-vitamin intake was assessed from two non-consecutive 24-h dietary recalls, serum folate and vitamin B-12 levels were measured in a subset of participants. Arsenic methylation capacity was measured as the proportion of urinary monomethylarsonic acid (%MMA). Multiple imputation using chained equations was conducted to account for missing covariate and exposure data. Ordinal regressions assessed associations between U-As and achievement score tertiles in the complete case and imputed samples. A "B-vitamin index" was calculated using principal component analysis. Interactions by urinary %MMA and the B-vitamin index were assessed.
resultsMedian specific gravity adjusted U-As was 11.7 μg/L (range: 2.6, 50.1). We found no association between U-As and broad math and reading scores, nor effect modification by %MMA or B-vitamins.
conclusionAt low-levels of exposure, U-As does not appear to affect children's academic achievement.
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Registered trials
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