Manganese and Infant Mortality: Well Water May Raise Death Rates in Bangladesh

Manganese and Infant Mortality: Well Water May Raise Death Rates in Bangladesh

After evaluating about 1,000 Europeans already suffering from cardiovascular disease, researchers have found a relationship between elevated concentrations of airborne particulates (PM) and increases in two markers of inflammation that have strong links with cardiovascular diseases and deaths [EHP 115:1072–1080; Rückerl et al.]. The cumulative number of people studied is the largest to date for...

Association between Manganese Exposure through Drinking Water and Infant Mortality in Bangladesh

BACKGROUND Manganese is a common natural contaminant of groundwater in Bangladesh. In this cross-sectional study we assessed the association between water manganese and all-cause infant mortality in the offspring of female participants in the Health Effects of Arsenic Longitudinal Study Cohort. METHODS In 2001, drinking water samples were collected, a history of well use was obtained, and a h...

Zinc in Well Water and Infant Mortality in Bangladesh: A Report from Gonoshasthaya Kendra

Zinc supplementation reduces the duration, severity and recurrence of diarrhoea in young children. This study examines whether zinc, found naturally in drinking water, reduced infant deaths from diarrhoea in rural Bangladesh. Information was compiled for births over two calendar years with follow-up for deaths within one year of birth. The study included 29,744 live births and 934 deaths in som...

Drinking Water Salinity and Infant Mortality in Coastal Bangladesh

Infant mortality and child nutrition in Bangladesh.

The excess female infant mortality observed in South Asia has typically been attributed to gender discrimination in the intra-household allocation of food and medical care. However, studies on child nutrition find no evidence of gender differences. A natural explanation could be that in environments of high infant mortality of females, the surviving children are healthier, so that child nutriti...