查看文章

Arsenic is a naturally occurring chemical in the environment. The International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) declared arsenic a class 1 human carcinogen. The inorganic form of arsenic is considered toxic to the human population; arsenic is a neurotoxin and can cause memory dysfunction. Very few studies have investigated the association between exposure to arsenic and depression in humans. The purpose of this study was to assess the association between urinary speciated arsenic and depression among adults in the USA using the 2015–2016 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) III dataset. Depression was measured using the nine-item Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9). We computed a total depression score from the PHQ-9 and categorized individuals with a score ≥ 10 as depressed. The exposure included six different speciated arsenic concentrations …