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Although exposure to antibiotics at a critical developmental time window has been implicated in mental health in observational and experimental studies, very limited bio-monitoring data are available for exposure to antibiotics associated with child mental disorders. The goal of our study was to examine the association between urinary exposure of children to antibiotics and mental health. The participants were 278 children from 256 eligible families in the urban-rural fringe of Fuyang city in China since June in 2017. A single-point urine sample was collected to measure the antibiotic concentrations to characterize the exposure levels. A total of 45 antibiotics from nine classes and their two metabolites were monitored through liquid chromatography electrospray tandem mass spectrometry. We used multivariable regressions to estimate the covariate-adjusted associations between urine-antibiotic concentrations and mental impairments, as assessed using the parent version of Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire. Among the participants, ciprofloxacin was associated with an increased risk of mental disorders at both lower concentrations (OR = 4.06; 95% CI 1.69-9.78) and higher concentrations OR = 6.04; 95% CI 2.59-14.08). After categorizing the detected antibiotics, the positive associations were observed between abnormal score in total difficulties and higher levels exposure to fluoroquinolones (OR = 2.83, 95% CI 1.38-5.80) and antibiotics preferred for veterinary use (PVAs) (OR = 3.20; 95% CI 1.41-7.27), respectively. Our findings suggest that ciprofloxacin, fluoroquinolones and PVAs, probably from contaminated food or environment, may be associated with child mental disorders.

This study aimed to evaluate the association between aluminum (Al), arsenic (As), barium (Ba), cobalt (Co), manganese (Mn), selenium (Se), strontium (Sr), thallium (Tl), and vanadium (V) levels in whole blood and the cognitive ability of people over 60 years old. A total of 1217 eligible participants were enrolled in our study in Lu'an city, Anhui province, China. The inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) was used to determine the concentration of nine trace elements in the whole blood, which reflect their exposure levels. Mini-mental State Examination (MMSE) scale was employed to screen the cognitive function of the elderly. Logistic regression was applied to assess the associations of nine whole blood trace elements with cognition. In the work, it has found that high levels of whole blood As and Se are risk factors for cognitive dysfunction. As and Se quartile were correlated with increased risk of cognitive dysfunction, and with the odds ratio (OR) of 2.06 (95% CI 1.30-3.25; p-trend = 0.002), 1.947 (95% CI 1.20-3.17; p-trend = 0.007) in the highest quartile. However, high concentration of Al, V, and Ba in whole blood were protective factors for cognitive function [OR = 0.63 (95% CI 0.40-0.98; p-trend = 0.040), 0.549 (95% CI 0.36-0.85; p-trend = 0.007), 0.460 (95% CI 0.28-0.75; p-trend = 0.002) respectively]. The study suggested that the exposure of some trace elements (As, Se) were associated with the increased risk of cognitive dysfunction; on the contrary, other elements (Al, V, Ba) could be protective factor for cognitive function. These findings need to be confirmed in additional research of a large elderly population.

Growing evidence has indicated the association of clinical antibiotic use with abnormal blood lipid levels; however, no epidemiological study has examined the relationship of antibiotic exposure, probably derived from food chains, with blood lipid levels. This study investigated the relationships of urinary antibiotic levels with blood lipid levels and dyslipidemias in the older population. Baseline data of 960 participants from the Cohort of Elderly Health and Environment Controllable Factors were used in the present study. High-performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (HPLC-MS/MS) was performed to detect antibiotic residues in the urine samples of the participants. Our findings revealed that each 1 μg/g increase in enrofloxacin and ciprofloxacin levels was associated with an increase of 0.084 (95 % confidence interval (CI): 0.030, 0.139) and 0.049 (95 % CI: 0.012, 0.086) in triglyceride levels, respectively. Enrofloxacin was associated with an increased risk of hypertriglyceridemia. Each 1 μg/g increase in the enrofloxacin level corresponded to an increase of 0.052 (95 % CI: 0.006, 0.098) in the low-density lipoprotein cholesterol level. Furthermore, florfenicol exposure increased the risks of both hyperbetalipoproteinemia and hypoalphalipoproteinemia. By contrast, each 1 μg/g increase in sulfaclozine and doxycycline levels was associated with a - 0.062 (95 % CI: -0.111, -0.020), and - 0.083 (95 % CI: -0.160, -0.007) decrease in total cholesterol levels, respectively. Sulfaclozine was closely related to a decreased risk of hypercholesterolemia. Stratification analysis revealed specific differences in the correlation between antibiotic exposure and lipid levels based on the waist circumference (WC) values of the participants. Except for sulfaclozine and doxycycline, other antibiotics exerted adverse effects on lipid levels and increased dyslipidemia prevalence. The older participants with higher WC values were vulnerable to antibiotic exposure. Therefore, an appropriate understanding of the epidemiological attributes of antibiotic residues is indispensable to prevent abdominal obesity in the older population.

Background Experimental and epidemiological studies have linked antibiotics use to gut dysbiosis-mediated risk of chronic metabolic diseases. However, whether adiposity is linked to antibiotic exposure in elderly remains inadequately understood. Objective To investigate the association between internal exposure of antibiotics and adiposity in elderly by using a biomonitoring method. Methods We included 990 participants (≥ 60 years) from the baseline survey of the Cohort of Elderly Health and Environment Controllable Factors in Lu’an city, China, from June to September 2016. Forty-five antibiotics and two metabolites in urine were monitored through liquid chromatography-electrospray tandem mass spectrometry (HPLC-MS/MS). Creatinine-corrected urinary concentrations were used to assess antibiotic exposure levels. Body mass index (BMI), waist circumference (WC) and body fat percentage (BFP) were used as indicators of adiposity. Multiple linear regression and binary logistic regression analyses were used to analyze the association of antibiotic concentrations with obesity-related indices. Subsequently, a gender-stratified analysis was performed. Results Of the included elderly, 50.7% were defined as having overweight/ obesity, 59.8% as having central preobesity/obesity, and 37.5% as having slightly high/high BFP. Linear regression analysis revealed that a 1-unit increase in the logarithmic transformation of norfloxacin concentrations was related with an increase of 0.29 kg/m2 (95% CI: 0.02–0.04), 0.99 cm (95% CI：0.24–1.75), and 0.69% (95% CI：0.21–1.17) in BMI, WC, and BFP, respectively. Compared with the control group, exposure to doxycycline (tertile 2: odds ratio, 2.06 [95% CI: 1.12–3.76]) and norfloxacin (tertile 2: 2.13 [1.05–4.29]; tertile 3: 2.07 [1.03–4.17]) had BMI-based overweight/obesity risk. Additionally, ciprofloxacin (tertile 2: 2.06 [1.12–3.76]), norfloxacin (tertile 3: 2.95 [1.34–6.49]), and florfenicol (tertile 3: 1.84 [1.07–3.14]) were related to WC-based central preobesity/obesity risk. Norfloxacin (tertile 3: 2.54 [1.23–5.24]) was positively associated with a slightly high/high BFP risk. Gender-stratified analysis demonstrated an increased adiposity risk in women compared with men. Conclusions Our research provided an evidence that exposure to specific types of antibiotics (tetracyclines and fluoroquinolones) probably from the food chain contributed to obesity in elderly. Prospective cohort studies with larger sample size are warrented to explore the causation.

Extensive antibiotic exposure in the general population has been documented by bio-monitoring, but data regarding antibiotic burden across three generations in families living in the same household are lacking. We investigated the distribution of antibiotics and the potential health risk among the three generations by selecting 691 participants from 256 households in Fuyang city, China. A total of 45 antibiotics and two metabolites were screened in urine samples through liquid chromatography electrospray tandem mass spectrometry. In total, 34 antibiotics were found in the samples with an overall detection frequency of 92.0%, and the detection frequencies of individual antibiotic ranged from 0.3% to 28.7%. Specifically, the concentrations of seven antibiotics (azithromycin, amoxicillin, oxytetracycline, levofloxacin, norfloxacin, trimethoprim and sulfamethoxazole) were extremely high (i.e., above 10, 000 ng/mL). The detection rates of tetracyclines were significantly different among the three generations, with parents having the highest detection rate. Penicillin V, chlortetracycline, doxycycline, enrofloxacin, and ciprofloxacin showed a higher detection frequency in parents, whereas tetracycline, danofloxacin, and ofloxacin were more likely to be found in grandparents. The proportions of the sum of the daily exposure dose of VAs and PVAs more than 1 μg/kg/d in children, parents, and grandparents were 31.6%, 39.5%, and 26.5%, respectively. A hazard index (HI) greater than 1 was observed in 14.7% children, which was less than the 23.6% in parents and slightly higher than the 11.8% in grandparents. Ciprofloxacin was the biggest contributor to HI among the three generations. Collectively, these findings indicate that households are widely exposed to various antibiotics in Fuyang city, where parents had the highest health risk associated with the disturbance of gut microbiota.