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Blood and Stool Arsenic Levels Are Decisive for Diagnosing Children’s Functional Gastrointestinal Disease (FGD)

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Abstract

Pediatric gastroenteritis is a potentially fatal disease that accounts for 10% of childhood deaths. The main risk is environmental factors and nutrition. Arsenic (As) is commonly found in the earth’s crust. As is an essential element that can form many organic compounds. In children, it causes diarrhea, gums, tongue lesions, diabetes, conjunctivitis, ocular opacity, and impaired immune response. It also causes low growth, mental retardation, and neurological problems. It is also known as the cause of many cancers that originate at an early age. Regionally, there is an iron and steel industry for almost a century. According to the Rome IV criteria, the blood and stools of 50 children aged 6–18 years, male and female, living in our province with functional gastrointestinal disease (FGD), were screened for As, and compared with the Healthy group (control) of 30 children. The results were evaluated with the Mann–Whitney Rank Sum Test. When blood and stool As values in males were compared with control samples, a high level of significance (p = 0.001) was found between both blood and stool As values in sick males and the control group (p < 0.005). In females, blood and stool As median values were also highly significant when compared with the control group (p = 0.001). According to these data, when the sick children (children with male and female gender) are compared with the healthy ones, the difference is highly significant (p < 0.005). High blood As levels in children indicate environmental pollution. It can be said that blood As levels are high as a result of food, water, and inhaler exposure. The presence of a high level of significant difference in stool means that the amount of As is high in the foods consumed daily. High levels of As are in blood and stools; It was evaluated that FGD could be the cause of nausea, diarrhea, vomiting, and colic. The increase in blood and stool As values due to environmental pollution is an important reason for FGD. For diseases of uncertain cause (such as FGD) resulting from chronic As exposure, blood and especially stool As values are more significant than urinary As levels. In conclusion, As a diagnostic criterion, it was concluded that blood and stool As values are an important marker in children with functional abdominal pain with other metals.

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Acknowledgements

We would like to thank Karabük University Scientific Research Projects Unit for their support for our study.

Funding

We would like to thank Karabük University Scientific Research Projects Unit for their support for our study.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Faculty of Medicine Department of Medical Pharmacology, Karabuk University, Karabuk, Turkey

    Namik Bilici

  2. Faculty of Medicine Department of Child Health and Diseases, Karabük University, Karabuk, Turkey

    Erkan Doğan & Eylem Sevinç

  3. Faculty of Medicine Department of Public Health, Karabuk University, Karabuk, Turkey

    Nergiz Sevinç

  4. Havran State Hospital, Balıkesir, Turkey

    Gülsema Akinci

  5. Department of Medical Services and Techniques Medical Documentation and Secretariat Program, ESOGU Vocational School of Health Services, Eskisehir, Turkey

    Ahmet Musmul

  6. Department of Elementary Education, Faculty of Education, Siirt University, Siirt, Turkey

    Mustafa Cengiz

  7. Vocational School of Health Services, Kırıkkale University, Kırıkkale, Turkey

    Ilknur Kulcanay Şahin

  8. Department of Bioengineering, Faculty of Engineering, Ege University, Izmir, Turkey

    Behnaz Aslanipour

  9. Faculty of Arts and Science, Department of Biology, Eskişehir Osmangazi University, Eskişehir, Turkey

    Adnan Ayhanci

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  1. Namik Bilici
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Contributions

Namık Bilici (Ph.D.): Methodology, Investigation Formal analysis, Software, Investigation, Data Curation, Review; Erkan Doğan (M.D.: Visualization, Data Curation, Writing—Original Draft Preparation, Conceptualization; Eylem Sevinç (Ph.D.): Investigation, Data Curation, Writing—Original Draft Preparation; Nergiz Sevinç (Ph.D.): Visualization, Investigation, Data Curation, Writing—Original Draft Preparation; Gülsema Akıncı (Ph.D.): Visualization, Data Curation, Conceptualization; Ahmet Musmul (Ph.D.): Visualization, Investigation, Data Curation, Conceptualization, Methodology, Formal analysis. Mustafa Cengiz (Ph.D.): Corresponding Author, Conceptualization, Methodology, Investigation, Formal analysis, Software, Data Curation, Review & Editing Preparation, Writing—Original Draft, Preparation; İlknur Kulcanay Şahin (Ph.D.): Investigation, Data Curation, Writing—Original Draft Preparation Behnaz Aslanipour (Ph.D.): Methodology, Investigation, Formal analysis, Software; Adnan Ayhanci (Ph.D.): Methodology, Investigation Formal analysis, Software, Investigation, Data Curation, Review.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Mustafa Cengiz.

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The approval of the ethics committee was obtained from the Karabük University Rectorate, Non-Interventional Clinical Research Ethics Committee, with the decision dated 10.11.2020 and numbered 2020/346.

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Bilici, N., Doğan, E., Sevinç, E. et al. Blood and Stool Arsenic Levels Are Decisive for Diagnosing Children’s Functional Gastrointestinal Disease (FGD). Biol Trace Elem Res 200, 3050–3059 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12011-021-02919-4

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