ASSOCIATION BETWEEN RELATIVE RISK OF BIRTH DEFECTS AND ARSENIC CONCENTRATIONS IN SOILS OF LVLIANG, SHANXI PROVINCE OF CHINA

The risk of birth defects is generally accredited with genetic and environmental factors together their interactions. However, the contribution of environmental factors to birth defects is still inconclusive. With the hypothesis of potential associations between geochemical features and risk of birth defects, soil samples were collected from a high prevalence area of birth defects in Shanxi province, China, and the chemical components were measured. The birth defects data were collected from a population-based retrospective study from the same area, and the relative risks of occurring were calculated using a conditional spatial autoregressive model. The relationships between rate of birth defects and chemical element concentrations in the surface and parent soils were examined. Concentrations and distributions of 15 chemical elements, namely, aluminum(Al), arsenic (As), calcium (Ca), copper (Cu), iron (Fe), potassium (K) magnesium (Mg), molybdenum (Mo), natrium (Na), nickel (Ni), lead (Pb), tin (Sn), strontium (Sr), vanadium (V), and zinc (Zn) were compared with relative risk of birth defects of each village. The results revealed that the arsenic levels in surface soils showed a significant association with relative risk of birth defects occurring in the study area. This finding is consistent with existing evidences of arsenic as a teratogen and warrants further investigation on arsenic exposure to potential effects on reproductive health.