ArticleEnvironment international2021
Parental metal exposures as potential risk factors for spina bifida in Bangladesh.
Article in Environment international, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 20 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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Who cites it
20 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 33 citations in OpenAlex.
- Birth prevalence and risk factors of neural tube defects in Ethiopia: a systematic review and meta-analysis.BMJ open · 2023Pooled it
- Prenatal Cerium Exposure and Neural Tube Defect Risk: A Case-control Study in Shanxi, China.Biological trace element research · 2026Article
- Multi-tissue DNA methylation analysis to identify an appropriate surrogate tissue for a unique neurological tissue specific to spina bifida.Clinical epigenetics · 2026Article
- Associations of arsenic exposure and folate in maternal leukocyte DNA methylation: a case-control study of mothers with spina-bifida affected children.Environmental health : a global access science source · 2026Article
- Multiple-element exposure in early pregnancy and birth defects: a nested case-control study based on the China birth cohort study.Frontiers in nutrition · 2026Article
- The influence of paternal preconception health on birth defects and head circumference: A scoping review.PLOS global public health · 2026Article
- Folate Interaction With Genetic Risk for Neural Tube Defects Among Infants in Bangladesh.Birth defects research · 2025Article
- Incidence of neural tube defects in tertiary care university hospital in Bangladesh.Clinical and experimental pediatrics · 2025Article
- Spina bifida as a multifactorial birth defect: Risk factors and genetic underpinnings.Pediatric discovery · 2025Review
- Parental arsenic exposure and tissue-specific DNA methylation in Bangladeshi infants with spina bifida.Epigenetics · 2024Article
- Maternal arsenic exposure modifies associations between arsenic, folate and arsenic metabolism gene variants, and spina bifida risk: A case‒control study in Bangladesh.Environmental research · 2024Article
- Prenatal Parental Exposure to Metals and Birth Defects: A Prospective Birth Cohort Study.Environmental science & technology · 2024Article
- The Importance of Neurosurgical Intervention and Surgical Timing for Management of Pediatric Patients with Myelomeningoceles in Bangladesh.World neurosurgery · 2024Article
- Arsenic modifies the effect of folic acid in spina bifida prevention, a large hospital-based case-control study in Bangladesh.Environmental health : a global access science source · 2024Article
- Genome-wide analysis of spina bifida risk variants in a case-control study from Bangladesh.Birth defects research · 2024Article
- Arsenic modifies the effect of folic acid in spina bifida prevention, a large hospital-based case-control study in Bangladesh.Research square · 2024Article
- Defining high confidence targets of differential CpG methylation in response to in utero arsenic exposure and implications for cancer risk.Toxicology and applied pharmacology · 2024Article
- Update of the risk assessment of inorganic arsenic in food.EFSA journal. European Food Safety Authority · 2024Article
- Gene-environment interactions underlying the etiology of neural tube defects.Current topics in developmental biology · 2023Article
- A Semi-quantitative Evaluation of Out-to-Out Agenesis of Posterior Wall in a Dry Human Sacrum in Bangladesh.Cureus · 2022Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
11 authors at 3 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundNeural tube defects are a pressing public health concern despite advances in prevention from folic acid-based strategies. Numerous chemicals, in particular arsenic, have been associated with neural tube defects in animal models and could influence risk in humans.
objectivesWe investigated the relationship between parental exposure to arsenic and 17 metals and risk of neural tube defects (myelomeningocele and meningocele) in a case control study in Bangladesh.
methodsExposure assessment included analysis of maternal and paternal toenail samples using inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS). A total of 278 participants (155 cases and 123 controls) with data collected from 2016 to 2020 were included in the analysis.
resultsIn the paternal models, a one-unit increase in the natural logarithm of paternal toenail arsenic was associated with a 74% (odds ratio: 1.74, 95% confidence interval: 1.26-2.42) greater odds of having a child with spina bifida, after adjusting for relevant covariates. Additionally, paternal exposure to aluminum, cobalt, chromium, iron, selenium, and vanadium was associated with increased odds of having a child with spina bifida in the adjusted models. In the maternal models, a one-unit increase in the natural logarithm of maternal toenail selenium and zinc levels was related to a 382% greater (odds ratio: 4.82, 95% confidence interval: 1.32-17.60) and 89% lower (odds ratio: 0.11, 95% confidence interval: 0.03-0.42) odds of having a child with spina bifida in the adjusted models, respectively. Results did not suggest an interaction between parental toenail metals and maternal serum folate. DISCUSSION: Parental toenail levels of numerous metals were associated with increased risk of spina bifida in Bangladeshi infants. Paternal arsenic exposure was positively associated with neural tube defects in children and is of particular concern given the widespread arsenic poisoning of groundwater resources in Bangladesh and the lack of nutritional interventions aimed to mitigate paternal arsenic exposure. The findings add to the growing body of literature of the impact of metals, especially paternal environmental factors, on child health.
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