| Water Manganese Exposure and Children's Intellectual Function in Araihazar, Bangladesh Gail A. Wasserman,1,2 Xinhua Liu,2,3 Faruque Parvez,4 Habibul Ahsan,5 Diane Levy,3 Pam Factor-Litvak,5 Jennie Kline,2,5,6 Alexander van Geen,7 Vesna Slavkovich,4 Nancy J. LoIacono,4 Zhongqi Cheng,7 Yan Zheng,7,8 and Joseph H. Graziano4 1Department of Psychiatry, College of Physicians and Surgeons, Columbia University, New York, New York, USA; 2New York State Psychiatric Institute, New York, New York, USA; 3Department of Biostatistics, 4Department of Environmental Health Sciences, and 5Department of Epidemiology, Mailman School of Public Health, Columbia University, New York, New York, USA; 6Gertrude H. Sergievsky Center, Columbia University, New York, New York, USA; 7Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, Columbia University, Palisades, New York, USA; 8Queens College, City University of New York, New York, New York, USA Abstract
Exposure to manganese via inhalation has long been known to elicit neurotoxicity in adults, but little is known about possible consequences of exposure via drinking water. In this study, we report results of a cross-sectional investigation of intellectual function in 142 10-year-old children in Araihazar, Bangladesh, who had been consuming tube-well water with an average concentration of 793 µg Mn/L and 3 µg arsenic/L. Children and mothers came to our field clinic, where children received a medical examination in which weight, height, and head circumference were measured. Children's intellectual function was assessed on tests drawn from the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children, version III, by summing weighted items across domains to create Verbal, Performance, and Full-Scale raw scores. Children provided urine specimens for measuring urinary As and creatinine and were asked to provide blood samples for measuring blood lead, As, Mn, and hemoglobin concentrations. After adjustment for sociodemographic covariates, water Mn was associated with reduced Full-Scale, Performance, and Verbal raw scores, in a dose-response fashion ; the low level of As in water had no effect. In the United States, roughly 6% of domestic household wells have Mn concentrations that exceed 300 µg Mn/L, the current U.S. Environmental Protection Agency lifetime health advisory level. We conclude that in both Bangladesh and the United States, some children are at risk for Mn-induced neurotoxicity. Key words: children, IQ, manganese. Environ Health Perspect 114: 124-129 (2006) . doi:10.1289/ehp.8030 available via http://dx.doi.org/ [Online 9 August 2005]
Address correspondence to G.A. Wasserman, New York State Psychiatric Institute, 1051 Riverside Dr., Unit 78, New York, NY 10032 USA. Telephone: (212) 543-5296. Fax: (212) 543-1000. E-mail: wassermg@childpsych.columbia.edu We thank our Bangladeshi field staff and the people of Araihazar. In particular, we thank M.A.B. Siddique, B. Begum, and R. Sultana. This work was supported by National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences grants P42 ES 10349 and P30 ES 09089, the Mailman School of Public Health, the Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, and the Earth Institute at Columbia University. The authors declare they have no competing financial interests. Received 17 February 2005 ; accepted 9 August 2005. Correction Some of the values were incorrect in the section "Dose-Response Relationships between Well WMn and Intellectual Function" and in Table 1 in the original manuscript published online ; they have been corrected here.
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