ASSESSMENT OF THE EFFECT OF ARSENIC EXPOSURE ON INTELIGENCE, MEMORY AND MENTAL HEALTH DEVELOPMENT OF CHILDREN

Abstract

        This study has been conducted on 462 children aged 6- 14 years old of a province in the Northern Vietnam (224 children in the households with arsenic in water tests >0.05 mg/l (exposed group) and 238 children in the households with arsenic in water <0.01 mg/l (non-exposed group) in order to assess intelligence, memory characteristics and the development of children’s mental health in community. To evaluate the intellectual capacity by IQ test, learning results, capability memory by verbal test and the development of children’s mental health by asking their parents following Development Behavior Checklist - Parent (DBC-P) and the Vanderbilt scale. The research results showed that: the percentage of children with IQ result at average level in exposed arsenic group was 42.1% and non-exposed arsenic group was 50.8%. The percentage of children with IQ result below the average level (mediocre, poor, stupid) in exposed arsenic group was 27.2%, higher than that of non-exposed arsenic group (21.8%), however the difference was not significantly statistic. The percentage of children in exposed arsenic group must be taken at least 4 remind time to complete a verbal test was 55.4%, while this percentage of children in non-exposed arsenic group was 43.3% (p <0.01, OR = 1.6, 95% CI = 1.1 to 2.3). In exposed arsenic group, children with abnormal neuro-behaviour signs was 3 times higher than that of non-exposed arsenic group (23.7% compared with 9.2%) (p<0.001, 95% CI=1.8 to 5.2) as measured by DBC-P, including breaking expression/resistance, communication disorders, manifest anxiety, social dysfunction. The risk of hyperactivity, inattention among children in exposed arsenic group was 1.7 times higher than that of children in non- exposed arsenic group (p <0.05) (95% CI = 1.1 to 2, 5 and 95% CI = 1.05 to 2.9) at Vanderbilt scale. The authors recommend that it’s necessary to monitor intelligence, memory, and abnormal neuro-behaviour signs of children in exposed arsenic group in order to applly early solutions and appropriate intervention if necessary.