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International Archives of
Nursing and Health Care ISSN: 2469-5823

Citation

Yongwei W, Dan W, Na HY, Peijia S, Bing Y (2019) Relationship between Rare Earth Elements, Lead and Intelligence of Children Aged 6 to 16 years: A Bayesian Structural Equation Modelling Method. Int Arch Nurs Health Care 5:123. doi.org/10.23937/2469-5823/1510123

Copyright

© 2019 Yongwei W, et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.

ORIGINAL RESEARCH | OPEN ACCESS DOI: 10.23937/2469-5823/1510123

Relationship between Rare Earth Elements, Lead and Intelligence of Children Aged 6 to 16 years: A Bayesian Structural Equation Modelling Method

Wang Yongwei1,2,3*, Wang Dan4, Huang Yi Na2, Sheng Peijia5 and Yang Bing2

1Department of Occupational Health, No. 4 West China Teaching Hospital, Sichuan University, Chengdu, China

2Department of Public Health, Hua Xi Medicinal Center, Sichuan University, Chengdu, China

3Occupational Health Emergency Key Laboratory of West China Occupational Disease Hospital & No. 4 West China Teaching Hospital, Sichuan University, Chengdu, China

4West China Center of Medical Sciences, Sichuan University, Chengdu, China

5Changji State Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Changji, China

Abstract

Background

The study was to investigate the effect of co-exposure to rare earth elements (REEs) and lead on children's intelligence, and whether there is a certain interactive effect of exposure.

Methods

Exposure to REEs and lead was assessed by analysing the scalp hair samples of children aged 6-16 years who lived in a rare earth mining area, by atomic absorption spectrometry. Intelligence was assessed using Raven's Standard Progressive Matrices. Bayesian Structural Equations were built to explore different patterns of associations between REEs and lead explore and children's intelligence, and the best-fitted one was selected for the most reasonable explanation according to DIC and BIC. In our best-fitted model, which did not contain any interactive item between REEs and lead, age had the greatest effect on IQ with a path coefficient of 0.339. Then came hair lead (-0.166), showing a negative effect on intelligence development. Impact of light REEs and heavy REEs were similar (-0.044 and -0.043, respectively).

Conclusion

Both light and heavy REEs, as well as lead in hair had negative effect on intelligence of children aged 6 to 16-years-old,, but interactive effect was not found. Future studies with improved methodologies and focus on mechanisms are expected.