Department of Neurology, Xiangya Hospital, Central South University, Changsha, China; National Clinical Research Center for Geriatric Disorders, Xiangya Hospital, Central South University, Changsha, China.
Department of Pathology, Xiangya Hospital, Central South University, Changsha, China.
Neurotoxicology. 2021 Jan;82:100-107. doi: 10.1016/j.neuro.2020.11.009. Epub 2020 Nov 26.
The influence of chronic arsenic exposure on cognitive impairment has been explored broadly by previous studies. However, most of them focused mainly on children rather than adults. In addition, in China, studies in this field are not sufficient. To illustrate how long-term arsenic exposure affects cognitive function, we designed a cross-sectional study involving 1556 adults.
All of them came from three locations around the Realgar Plant. The cognitive function of the participants was evaluated using a Chinese version of the Mini-mental state Examination (MMSE). The participants' internal arsenic exposure status (hair arsenic concentrations) and the external arsenic exposure status (the distance between the participants' location of residence and the Realgar Plant) were measured.
Our research revealed that both of hair arsenic concentrations and the prevalence of arsenicosis, two important indexes, were significantly higher in the cognitive-impaired (CI) group than in the cognitive-normal (CN) group (P < 0.05). In addition, distance from the Realgar Plant was positively correlated with the MMSE scores and was negatively correlated with the prevalence of cognitive impairment. Moreover, our results demonstrated that there was a negative correlation between hair arsenic concentrations and MMSE scores. We conducted a two-level Logistic regression analysis and further confirmed that even after adjusting for potential confounding variables, arsenicosis retained a risk factor for cognitive impairment (odds ratio (OR) = 1.84, P < 0.05).
Our results indicated that chronic arsenic exposure could impair adults' cognitive function in a dose-dependent manner. Additionally, arsenicosis could be an independent risk factor for cognitive impairment.
慢性砷暴露对认知障碍的影响已被先前的研究广泛探讨。然而，大多数研究主要集中在儿童而不是成年人身上。此外，在中国，这一领域的研究还不够充分。为了说明长期砷暴露如何影响认知功能，我们设计了一项涉及 1556 名成年人的横断面研究。
他们都来自雄黄厂周围的三个地点。使用中文版简易精神状态检查（MMSE）评估参与者的认知功能。测量了参与者的体内砷暴露状况（头发砷浓度）和体外砷暴露状况（参与者居住地与雄黄厂的距离）。
我们的研究表明，认知障碍（CI）组的头发砷浓度和砷中毒患病率这两个重要指标均明显高于认知正常（CN）组（P < 0.05）。此外，与雄黄厂的距离与 MMSE 评分呈正相关，与认知障碍的患病率呈负相关。此外，我们的结果表明，头发砷浓度与 MMSE 评分之间存在负相关。我们进行了两级 Logistic 回归分析，并进一步证实，即使在调整了潜在的混杂因素后，砷中毒仍然是认知障碍的一个危险因素（比值比（OR）= 1.84，P < 0.05）。
我们的结果表明，慢性砷暴露可能以剂量依赖的方式损害成年人的认知功能。此外，砷中毒可能是认知障碍的一个独立危险因素。
