Qiang Zhang1, Xumei Zhang2, Shuying Li3, Huihuan Liu4, Liangpo Liu5, Qingyu Huang6, Yaxing Hou1, Xiaoshan Liang2, Bo Cui7, Ming Zhang8, Liting Xia1, Liwen Zhang1, Chen Li1, Jing Li9, Guifan Sun10, Naijun Tang11. 1. Department of Occupational and Environmental Health, School of Public Health, Tianjin Medical University, Tianjin 300070, China; Tianjin Key Laboratory of Environment, Nutrition and Public Health, School of Public Health, Tianjin Medical University, Tianjin 300070, China. 2. Tianjin Key Laboratory of Environment, Nutrition and Public Health, School of Public Health, Tianjin Medical University, Tianjin 300070, China; Department of Nutrition and Food Science, School of Public Health, Tianjin Medical University, Tianjin 300070, China. 3. Department of Endocrinology, Tianjin Xiqing Hospital, Tianjin 300380, China. 4. Beichen District Women's and Children's Health Center, Tianjin 300400, China. 5. School of Public Health, Shanxi Medical University, Taiyuan 030001 China. 6. Key Laboratory of Urban Environment and Health, Institute of Urban Environment, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Xiamen 361021, China. 7. Institute of Environmental and Operational Medicine, Academy of Military Medical Sciences, Tianjin 300050, China. 8. Shenzhen Prevention and Treatment Center for Occupational Diseases, Shenzhen 518020, China. 9. Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, School of Public Health, Tianjin Medical University, Tianjin 300070, China. 10. Key Laboratory of Arsenic-related Biological Effects and Prevention and Treatment in Liaoning Province, School of Public Health, China Medical University, Shenyang 110122, China. 11. Department of Occupational and Environmental Health, School of Public Health, Tianjin Medical University, Tianjin 300070, China; Tianjin Key Laboratory of Environment, Nutrition and Public Health, School of Public Health, Tianjin Medical University, Tianjin 300070, China. Electronic address: tangnaijun@tmu.edu.cn.
Abstract
BACKGROUND: Growing evidence indicates that arsenic (As) exposure can increase the risk of gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM). However, little is known about As species and GDM and the combined effect of As and one-carbon metabolism (OCM) on GDM. OBJECTIVES: We aimed to examine the associations between As species and GDM and evaluate the potential interactions of folate, vitamin B12, and homocysteine (Hcy) with As species on GDM prevalence. METHOD: We measured levels of arsenite (As3+), arsenate (As5+), dimethylarsinic acid (DMA), and arsenobetaine (AsB) species in urine and folate, vitamin B12, and Hcy in serum from 396 pregnant women in Tianjin, China. The diagnosis of GDM was based on an oral glucose tolerance test. Associations of As species in urine with GDM were evaluated using generalized linear models (GLMs) and Bayesian kernel machine regression (BKMR). Additive interactions of As and OCM with GDM were estimated by determining the relative excess risk due to interaction (RERI). RESULTS: Of the 396 pregnant women, 89 were diagnosed with GDM. Continuous increases in urinary inorganic As were associated with GDM in the GLMs, with adjusted odds ratios of 2.12 (95% CI: 0.96, 4.71) for As3+, and 0.27 (95% CI: 0.07, 0.98) for As5+. The BKMR in estimating the exposure-response functions showed that As3+ and AsB were positively associated with GDM. However, As5+ showed a negative relationship with GDM. Although the additive interactions between As exposure and OCM indicators were not significant, we found that pregnant women with higher urinary As3+ and total As accompanied by lower serum vitamin B12 were more likely to have higher odds of GDM (3.12, 95% CI: 1.32, 7.38 and 3.10, 95% CI: 1.30, 7.38, respectively). CONCLUSIONS: Our data suggest a positive relation between As3+ and GDM but a negative relation between As5+ and GDM. Potential additive interaction of As and OCM with GDM requires further investigation.
BACKGROUND: Growing evidence indicates that arsenic (As) exposure can increase the risk of gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM). However, little is known about As species and GDM and the combined effect of As and one-carbon metabolism (OCM) on GDM. OBJECTIVES: We aimed to examine the associations between As species and GDM and evaluate the potential interactions of folate, vitamin B12, and homocysteine (Hcy) with As species on GDM prevalence. METHOD: We measured levels of arsenite (As3+), arsenate (As5+), dimethylarsinic acid (DMA), and arsenobetaine (AsB) species in urine and folate, vitamin B12, and Hcy in serum from 396 pregnant women in Tianjin, China. The diagnosis of GDM was based on an oral glucose tolerance test. Associations of As species in urine with GDM were evaluated using generalized linear models (GLMs) and Bayesian kernel machine regression (BKMR). Additive interactions of As and OCM with GDM were estimated by determining the relative excess risk due to interaction (RERI). RESULTS: Of the 396 pregnant women, 89 were diagnosed with GDM. Continuous increases in urinary inorganic As were associated with GDM in the GLMs, with adjusted odds ratios of 2.12 (95% CI: 0.96, 4.71) for As3+, and 0.27 (95% CI: 0.07, 0.98) for As5+. The BKMR in estimating the exposure-response functions showed that As3+ and AsB were positively associated with GDM. However, As5+ showed a negative relationship with GDM. Although the additive interactions between As exposure and OCM indicators were not significant, we found that pregnant women with higher urinary As3+ and total As accompanied by lower serum vitamin B12 were more likely to have higher odds of GDM (3.12, 95% CI: 1.32, 7.38 and 3.10, 95% CI: 1.30, 7.38, respectively). CONCLUSIONS: Our data suggest a positive relation between As3+ and GDM but a negative relation between As5+ and GDM. Potential additive interaction of As and OCM with GDM requires further investigation.