Accessing Disadvantaged Pregnant Women in Houston, Texas, and Characterizing Biomarkers of Metal Exposure: A Feasibility Study

Kristina W. Whitworth, Inkyu Han, Masoud Afshar, Yuan Mei, Pamela D. Berens, Shreela V. Sharma and Elaine Symanski
Additional contact information
Kristina W. Whitworth: Department of Epidemiology, Human Genetics, and Environmental Sciences, UTHealth School of Public Health in San Antonio, San Antonio, TX 78229, USA
Inkyu Han: Southwest Center for Occupational and Environmental Health, UTHealth School of Public Health, Houston, TX 78030, USA
Masoud Afshar: Southwest Center for Occupational and Environmental Health, UTHealth School of Public Health, Houston, TX 78030, USA
Yuan Mei: Department of Epidemiology, Human Genetics, and Environmental Sciences, UTHealth School of Public Health, Houston, TX 78030, USA
Pamela D. Berens: Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology, and Reproductive Sciences, UTHealth McGovern Medical School, Houston TX 78030, USA
Shreela V. Sharma: Department of Epidemiology, Human Genetics, and Environmental Sciences, UTHealth School of Public Health, Houston, TX 78030, USA
Elaine Symanski: Southwest Center for Occupational and Environmental Health, UTHealth School of Public Health, Houston, TX 78030, USA

IJERPH, 2017, vol. 14, issue 5, 1-9

Abstract: Abstract : Communities of color or low socioeconomic status are disproportionately affected by metal exposure given spatial variability of the ambient levels of these contaminants. Despite this, there is little research characterizing metal concentrations in blood among disadvantaged populations in the U.S., especially among pregnant women who are particularly vulnerable and difficult to access. Thus, we conducted a pilot study among disadvantaged pregnant women in Houston, Texas to assess willingness to participate in key activities of an epidemiologic study and characterize exposures to 16 metals. Thirty-one women attending a Medicaid-serving prenatal clinic were included in this pilot study and completed an interviewer-administered questionnaire. We obtained and measured metal compounds in whole blood samples for 22 of these women during third-trimester prenatal visits. Median whole blood concentrations of Ni, As, Cd, and Pb were 27, 1.4, 0.6, and 6.3 µg/L, respectively. Most women were willing to participate in critical aspects of a research study, including wearing a personal air-sampling badge for 2–3 days (87.1%), receiving ultrasounds (83.9%), and providing blood draws (64.5%). Despite the small sample, our results provide evidence of women’s metal exposure and their willingness to participate in future research studies to elucidate exposure pathways and explore related health effects experienced among this population of disadvantaged pregnant women.

Keywords: disadvantaged populations; pregnant women; prenatal; blood metal; biomarker (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2017
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/14/5/474/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/14/5/474/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:14:y:2017:i:5:p:474-:d:97199

Access Statistics for this article

IJERPH is currently edited by Ms. Jenna Liu

More articles in IJERPH from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().