Official website: nanobiofaces.imi.hr
Project duration: 1.1. 2015. – 31.12. 2016.
Croatian project coordinator: Dr. sc. Ivana Vinković Vrček, Institute for Medical Research and Occupational Health, Zagreb, Croatia
German project coordinator: Prof. Dr. Bernhard Michalke, Helmholtz Zentrum München Deutsches Forschungszentrum für Gesundheit und Umwelt (GmbH), Germany
Granted by: DAAD-MZOS granting scheme
Project Partners:
Institute for Medical Research and Occupational Health, Zagreb, Croatia
Abstract: Arsenic contamination of drinking water continues to be a serious and ongoing public environmental health problem affecting millions of people. [1]. In the groundwater of Eastern Croatia, which is widely used for water supply, higher concentration of As has been found [2]. High chronic exposure to inorganic arsenic (iAs) in drinking water has been related to many diverse disease processes. However, the effect of chronic exposure to low and moderate levels of iAs on diabetes mellitus type 2 (DMT2) risk remains controversial. Recently, a health risk assessment of cumulative exposure to arsenic has ascertain toxic and carcinogenic risks resulting from drinking raw groundwater contaminated by As among the residents of the villages in Eastern Croatia [2]. There is no data on the association of As exposure with the prevalence of DMT2 in Croatia. The Croatian survey targeting diabetes prevalence revealed a higher prevalence of diabetes than previously estimated [3]. The interesting observation of this study was significantly higher percentage of impaired fasting glucose, undiagnosed diabetes, and the prevalence of insulin resistance in the Eastern Croatia compared to Zagreb region [3]. The objective of the proposed project is to investigate the association of As exposure, as measured in urine and blood, with the prevalence of DMT2 in a representative sample of Croatian adults. The proposed study will recruit habitants from two different regions – Eastern Croatia, where groundwater is contaminated with iAs, and Zagreb region, where no exposure to As is expected. Additional value of the study would be the association of exposure to elevated As and the percentage of impaired fasting glucose, undiagnosed diabetes, and the prevalence of insulin resistance. The proposed project, restricted to only two years, should be considered as a pilot study for collecting a set of preliminary data for preparation of larger epidemiologic studies.