Large floods drive changes in cause-specific mortality in the United States.

Flooding greatly endangers public health and is an urgent concern as rapid population growth in flood-prone regions and more extreme weather events will increase the number of people at risk. However, an exhaustive analysis of mortality following floods has not been conducted. Here we used 35.

Private, public, and bottled drinking water: Shared contaminant-mixture exposures and effects challenge.

Background: Humans are primary drivers of environmental-contaminant exposures worldwide, including in drinking-water (DW). In the United States, point-of-use DW (POU-DW) is supplied via private tapwater (TW), public-supply TW, and bottled water (BW). Differences in management, monitoring, and messaging and lack of directly-intercomparable exposure data influence the actual and perceived quality and safety of different DW supplies and directly impact consumer decision-making.

Arsenic speciation analysis in human urine for long term epidemiological studies: The Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis (MESA).

Arsenic is a ubiquitous toxic metalloid causing serious health problems. Speciation analysis of arsenic in human urine provides valuable insights for large-scale epidemiological studies and informs on sources of exposure as well as human metabolism. The Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis (MESA) is a valuable cohort for assessing chronic low-moderate arsenic exposure and health effects in an ethnically diverse US population.

Public drinking water contaminant estimates for birth cohorts in the Environmental Influences on Child Health Outcomes (ECHO) Cohort.

Background: The United States Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) regulates over 80 contaminants in community water systems (CWS), including those relevant to infant health outcomes. Multi-cohort analyses of the association between measured prenatal public water contaminant concentrations and infant health outcomes are sparse in the US.

Objective: Our objectives were to (1) develop Zip Code Tabulation Area (ZCTA)-level CWS contaminant concentrations for participants in the Environmental Influences on Child Health Outcomes (ECHO) Cohort and (2) evaluate regional, seasonal, and sociodemographic inequities in contaminant concentrations at the ZCTA-level.

Geographic and dietary differences of urinary uranium levels in the Strong Heart Family Study.

Background: American Indian (AI) communities are affected by uranium exposure from abandoned mines and naturally contaminated drinking water. Few studies have evaluated geographical differences across AI communities and the role of dietary exposures.

Objective: We evaluated differences in urinary uranium levels by diet and geographical area among AI participants from the Northern Plains, the Southern Plains, and the Southwest enrolled in the Strong Heart Family Study (SHFS).

Proteomics, Human Environmental Exposure, and Cardiometabolic Risk.

Background: The biological mechanisms linking environmental exposures with cardiovascular disease pathobiology are incompletely understood. We sought to identify circulating proteomic signatures of environmental exposures and examine their associations with cardiometabolic and respiratory disease in observational cohort studies.

Methods: We tested the relations of >6500 circulating proteins with 29 environmental exposures across the built environment, green space, air pollution, temperature, and social vulnerability indicators in ≈3000 participants of the CARDIA study (Coronary Artery Risk Development in Young Adults) across 4 centers using penalized and ordinary linear regression.

The Contribution of Declines in Blood Lead Levels to Reductions in Blood Pressure Levels: Longitudinal Evidence in the Strong Heart Family Study.

Background: Chronic lead exposure is associated with both subclinical and clinical cardiovascular disease. We evaluated whether declines in blood lead were associated with changes in systolic and diastolic blood pressure in adult American Indian participants from the SHFS (Strong Heart Family Study).

Methods And Results: Lead in whole blood was measured in 285 SHFS participants in 1997 to 1999 and 2006 to 2009.

US drinking water quality: exposure risk profiles for seven legacy and emerging contaminants.

Background: Advances in drinking water infrastructure and treatment throughout the 20 and early 21 century dramatically improved water reliability and quality in the United States (US) and other parts of the world. However, numerous chemical contaminants from a range of anthropogenic and natural sources continue to pose chronic health concerns, even in countries with established drinking water regulations, such as the US.

Objective/methods: In this review, we summarize exposure risk profiles and health effects for seven legacy and emerging drinking water contaminants or contaminant groups: arsenic, disinfection by-products, fracking-related substances, lead, nitrate, per- and polyfluorinated alkyl substances (PFAS) and uranium.

Blood and Urinary Metal Levels among Exclusive Marijuana Users in NHANES (2005-2018).

Background: Marijuana is the third most used drug in the world.

Objectives: Because the cannabis plant is a known scavenger of metals, we hypothesized that individuals who use marijuana will have higher metal biomarker levels compared with those who do not use.

Methods: We combined data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (2005-2018) for participants, classified by use: non-marijuana/non-tobacco, exclusive marijuana, exclusive tobacco, and dual marijuana and tobacco use.

Geospatial Assessment of Racial/Ethnic Composition, Social Vulnerability, and Lead Water Service Lines in New York City.

Background: The state of New York expects to receive in 2022 alone from the U.S. Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act to support the replacement of lead water service lines.

Associations between area-level arsenic exposure and adverse birth outcomes: An Echo-wide cohort analysis.

Background: Drinking water is a common source of exposure to inorganic arsenic. In the US, the Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA) was enacted to protect consumers from exposure to contaminants, including arsenic, in public water systems (PWS). The reproductive effects of preconception and prenatal arsenic exposure in regions with low to moderate arsenic concentrations are not well understood.

Regional and racial/ethnic inequalities in public drinking water fluoride concentrations across the US.

Background: Although the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) considers fluoridation of community water systems (CWSs) to be a major public health achievement responsible for reducing dental disease, recent epidemiologic evidence suggests that chronic exposure to population-relevant levels of fluoride may also be associated with adverse child neurodevelopmental outcomes. To our knowledge, a nationally representative database of CWS fluoride concentration estimates that can be readily linked to US epidemiologic cohorts for further study is not publicly available. Our objectives were to evaluate broad regional and sociodemographic inequalities in CWS fluoride concentrations across the US, and to determine if county-level racial/ethnic composition was associated with county-level CWS fluoride.

Cross-sectional associations between drinking water arsenic and urinary inorganic arsenic in the United States: NHANES 2003-2014.

Background: Inorganic arsenic is a potent carcinogen and toxicant associated with numerous adverse health outcomes. The contribution of drinking water from private wells and regulated community water systems (CWSs) to total inorganic arsenic exposure is not clear.

Objectives: To determine the association between drinking water arsenic estimates and urinary arsenic concentrations in the 2003-2014 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES).

Socioeconomic vulnerability and public water arsenic concentrations across the US.

Inorganic arsenic is a known human carcinogen and is routinely detected in US community water systems (CWSs). Inequalities in CWS arsenic exist across broad sociodemographic subgroups. Our objective was to evaluate the county-level association between socioeconomic vulnerability and CWS arsenic concentrations across the US.

Blood cadmium, lead, manganese, mercury, and selenium levels in American Indian populations: The Strong Heart Study.

Background: Many American Indian (AI) communities are in areas affected by environmental contamination, such as toxic metals. However, studies assessing exposures in AI communities are limited. We measured blood metals in AI communities to assess historical exposure and identify participant characteristics associated with these levels in the Strong Heart Study (SHS) cohort.

A mass-balance approach to evaluate arsenic intake and excretion in different populations.

Unless a toxicant builds up in a deep compartment, intake by the human body must on average balance the amount that is lost. We apply this idea to assess arsenic (As) exposure misclassification in three previously studied populations in rural Bangladesh (n = 11,224), Navajo Nation in the Southwestern United States (n = 619), and northern Chile (n = 630), under varying assumptions about As sources. Relationships between As intake and excretion were simulated by taking into account additional sources, as well as variability in urine dilution inferred from urinary creatinine.

Association of blood manganese, selenium with steatosis, fibrosis in the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, 2017-18.

Background & Aims: Chronic liver disease is a growing health burden worldwide. Chronic metal exposures may be associated with non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD). We aimed to evaluate the association of blood cadmium (Cd), mercury (Hg), lead (Pb), manganese (Mn), and selenium (Se) with two hallmark features of NAFLD: liver steatosis and fibrosis in the general U.