{"id":14546,"date":"2019-06-04T08:00:43","date_gmt":"2019-06-04T13:00:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.paristn.net\/articles\/?p=14546"},"modified":"2019-06-04T00:11:44","modified_gmt":"2019-06-04T05:11:44","slug":"arsenic-in-drinking-water-may-change-heart-structure","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.paristn.net\/articles\/2019\/06\/04\/arsenic-in-drinking-water-may-change-heart-structure\/","title":{"rendered":"Arsenic in drinking water may change heart structure"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft wp-image-56563\" title=\"American Heart Association\" src=\"http:\/\/www.clarksvilleonline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/12\/American-Heart-Association-new-logo-480x230.jpg\" alt=\"American Heart Association\" width=\"240\" height=\"115\"><strong>Dallas, TX<\/strong> &#8211; According to new research in <em>Circulation:<\/em> <em>Cardiovascular Imaging<\/em>, an American Heart Association journal drinking water that is contaminated with arsenic may lead to thickening of the heart\u2019s main pumping chamber in young adults, a structural change that increases the risk for future heart problems.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_405411\" style=\"width: 490px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a target=\"_blank\" href=\"http:\/\/www.clarksvilleonline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/11\/Heart-Chambers-Illustration.jpg\"  class=\"thickbox no_icon\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-405411\" class=\"wp-image-405411 size-medium\" title=\"Among young adults, drinking water contaminated with arsenic may lead to structural changes in the heart that raise their risk of heart disease. (American Heart Association)\" src=\"http:\/\/www.clarksvilleonline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/11\/Heart-Chambers-Illustration-480x270.jpg\" alt=\"Among young adults, drinking water contaminated with arsenic may lead to structural changes in the heart that raise their risk of heart disease. (American Heart Association)\" width=\"480\" height=\"270\"><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-405411\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Among young adults, drinking water contaminated with arsenic may lead to structural changes in the heart that raise their risk of heart disease. (American Heart Association)<\/p><\/div>\n<p><!--more--><\/p>\n<p>\u201cPeople drinking water from private wells, which are not regulated, need to be aware that arsenic may increase the risk for <a href=\"https:\/\/www.heart.org\/en\/health-topics\/consumer-healthcare\/what-is-cardiovascular-disease\"  target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">cardiovascular disease<\/a>. Testing those wells is a critical first step to take action and prevent exposure,\u201d said Gernot Pichler, M.D., Ph.D., M.Sc., lead author of the study and medical specialist for Internal Medicine, Department of Cardiology at Hospital Hietzing\/Heart Center Clinic Floridsdorf in Vienna, Austria, scientific collaborator at INCLIVA Health Research Institute in Valencia, Spain, and a visitor scholar in the Department of Environmental Health Sciences at Columbia University in New York City.<\/p>\n<p>People are most frequently exposed to arsenic, a toxic metalloid, through drinking water in areas where groundwater is contaminated, including many American Indian tribal communities and other rural and suburban communities in the United States.<\/p>\n<p>Previously, several studies have shown that arsenic exposure raises the risk of heart disease and its risk factors, including high blood pressure and diabetes. This is the first study to review the question in young American Indians in Oklahoma, Arizona and North Dakota and South Dakota.<\/p>\n<p>Here, researchers reviewed data from the Strong Heart Family Study, a study evaluating cardiovascular risk factors among American Indians. Arsenic exposure was measured in urine samples from 1,337 adults (average age 30.7 years, 61% female) and the size, shape and function of their hearts were assessed using ultrasound (echocardiography). None of the participants had <a href=\"https:\/\/www.heart.org\/en\/health-topics\/diabetes\"  target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">diabetes<\/a> or heart disease at the start of the five-year study.<\/p>\n<p>Overall, arsenic exposure was higher than in the general United States population, but lower than that found in other studies conducted in Mexico and Bangladesh. With a two-fold increase in arsenic in the urine, the researchers found:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>47% greater chance of thickening of the heart\u2019s main pumping chamber (left ventricle) in the group as a whole; and<\/li>\n<li>58% greater chance of thickening of the left ventricle in participants with increased or <a href=\"https:\/\/www.heart.org\/en\/health-topics\/high-blood-pressure\"  target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">high blood pressure<\/a> (blood pressure at least 120\/80 mm Hg or using pressure-lowering medication)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>\u201cThe stronger association in subjects with elevated blood pressure suggests that individuals with pre-clinical heart disease might be more prone to the toxic effects of arsenic on the heart,\u201d Pichler said.<\/p>\n<p>The study is limited by having only one measure of arsenic exposure, and by the lack of long-term follow-up of the participants. Although this study was performed in tribal populations in the north, central and southwestern United States, the results are likely to be generalizable to millions of people in other rural locations exposed to low or moderate levels of arsenic in their water, according to Pichler.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe study raises the question of whether the changes in heart structure are reversible if exposure is reduced. Some changes have occurred in water sources in the study communities, and it will be important to check the potential health impact of reducing arsenic exposure,\u201d Pichler said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cObservational studies can stimulate future research on genetic, environmental and clinical factors to shed light on the relationship between arsenic and cardiovascular disease,\u201d said editorial author, Rajiv Chowdhury, M.B.B.S., Ph.D., Cardiovascular Epidemiology Unit, Department of Public Health and Primary Care, University of Cambridge, United Kingdom \u201cThese studies are important since cardiovascular disease remains the single leading cause of adult premature death worldwide and millions of individuals globally are exposed to arsenic and other metal contaminants.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Co-authors are Maria Grau-Perez, M.Sc.; Maria Tellez-Plaza, M.D., Ph.D.; Jason G. Umans, M.D., Ph.D.; Lyle G. Best, M.D.; Shelley Cole, Ph.D.; Walter Goessler, Ph.D.; Kevin A. Francesconi, Ph.D.; Jonathan Newman, M.D., M.P.H.; Josep Redon, M.D., Ph.D.; Richard B. Devereux, M.D. and Ana Navas-Acien, M.D., Ph.D. Author disclosures are on the manuscript.<\/p>\n<p>Editorial co-author is Kim van Daalen, B.Sc., M.Phil.<\/p>\n<p>The National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences and the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute funded the study.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Additional Resources:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>View the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ahajournals.org\/doi\/10.1161\/CIRCIMAGING.118.009018\"  target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">manuscript<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ahajournals.org\/doi\/10.1161\/CIRCIMAGING.118.009185\"  target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">editorial<\/a> online.<\/li>\n<li>Add heart.org or other AHA\/ASA resource links if needed.<\/li>\n<li>Follow AHA\/ASA news on Twitter <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/HeartNews\" title=\"@HeartNews\"  target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">@HeartNews<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Dallas, TX &#8211; According to new research in Circulation: Cardiovascular Imaging, an American Heart Association journal drinking water that is contaminated with arsenic may lead to thickening of the heart\u2019s main pumping chamber in young adults, a structural change that increases the risk for future heart problems.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[86],"tags":[2538,1834,4785,2554,6774,9006,4030,216,4796,218,215,5577,2848,7062],"class_list":["post-14546","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-health","tag-american-heart-association","tag-arizona","tag-arsenic","tag-cardiovascular-disease","tag-circulation","tag-columbia-university","tag-dallas-tx","tag-diabetes","tag-drinking-water","tag-heart-disease","tag-high-blood-pressure","tag-north-dakota","tag-oklahoma","tag-south-dakota"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.paristn.net\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14546","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.paristn.net\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.paristn.net\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.paristn.net\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.paristn.net\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14546"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.paristn.net\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14546\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":14547,"href":"https:\/\/www.paristn.net\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14546\/revisions\/14547"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.paristn.net\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14546"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.paristn.net\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14546"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.paristn.net\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14546"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}