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Selenium attenuates the association of co-exposure to arsenic, cadmium, and lead with cognitive function among Chinese community-dwelling older adults

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Abstract

The effects of interactions between the toxic and essential metal mixtures on cognitive function are poorly understood. This study aims to identify the joint association of arsenic (As), cadmium (Cd), and lead (Pb) with cognitive function in older adults and the moderating role of selenium (Se), zinc (Zn), and copper (Cu) in this association. This study included 1000 community-dwelling older adults. Cognitive function was assessed by the Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE). Blood concentrations of As, Cd, Pb, Se, Zn, and Cu were measured using inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry. Linear regression and Bayesian kernel machine regression (BKMR) models were applied to assess the individual and joint associations of As, Cd, and Pb with cognitive function and to examine whether Se, Zn, and Cu (individually and as a mixture) modified these associations. In the adjusted single-metal models, both Cd (β = − 0.37, 95% CI: − 0.73 to − 0.01) and Pb (β = − 0.44, 95% CI: − 0.86 to − 0.02) were associated with MMSE scores, while Se (β = 0.71, 95% CI: 0.30 to 1.13) exhibited a positive relationship with MMSE scores. Univariate exposure–response functions from BKMR models showed similar results. Moreover, the toxic metal mixture (As, Cd, and Pb) exhibited a significant negative association with MMSE scores in a dose–response pattern, with Pb being the greatest contributor within the mixture. The negative association of Pb alone or the toxic metal mixture with MMSE scores became weaker at higher concentrations of Se within its normal range, especially when Se levels were greater than the median (89.18 μg/L). Our findings support that Se can attenuate the negative associations of exposure to single Pb or the As, Cd, and Pb mixtures with cognitive function. Future prospective studies are needed to replicate our findings.

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The datasets analyzed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

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Acknowledgements

The authors are grateful to the research group of Older Adults Health and Modifiable Factors, the Lu’an Center for Disease Control and Prevention.

Funding

This study was funded by the National Key R&D Program of China (grant number 2016YFC1305900), the Major Projects on College Leading Talent Team Introduced of Anhui (grant number 0303011224), the Key Scientific Research Fund of Anhui Provincial Education Department (grant number KJ2017A189), and the Grants for Scientific Research of BSKY from Anhui Medical University (grant number Xj201525).

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Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Contributions

Bei-Jing Cheng: writing—original draft, formal analysis, validation. Jie Sheng: writing—original draft, formal analysis, validation. Hong-Li Wang: writing—original draft, formal analysis, validation. Yuan Wang: writing—original draft, formal analysis, validation. Hong-Juan Cao: investigation, data curation, validation. Xiu-De Li: investigation, data curation, validation. Ting-Ting Zhou: formal analysis, validation. Xiang-Long Meng: formal analysis, validation. Huan-Huan Nie: formal analysis, validation. Su-Fang Wang: investigation, data curation, validation. Dong-Mei Zhang: investigation, data curation, validation. Gui-Mei Chen: investigation, data curation, validation. Fang-Biao Tao: methodology, investigation, validation. Lin-Sheng Yang: investigation, data curation, writing—review and editing, validation.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Lin-Sheng Yang.

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Ethical approval

The study was approved by the biomedical ethical committee of Anhui Medical University (No. 2017028).

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Each participant had provided written informed consent according to the principles of the Helsinki.

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Competing interests

The authors declare no competing interests.

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Responsible Editor: Ludek Blaha

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Bei-Jing Cheng, Jie Sheng, Hong-Li Wang, and Yuan Wang contributed equally to this paper.

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Cheng, BJ., Sheng, J., Wang, HL. et al. Selenium attenuates the association of co-exposure to arsenic, cadmium, and lead with cognitive function among Chinese community-dwelling older adults. Environ Sci Pollut Res 30, 36377–36391 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-022-24783-y

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-022-24783-y

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