Evaluación de riesgo sistémico y niveles de metahemoglobina en niños que consumen agua contaminada por nitratos
The Comarca Lagunera is considered the most important milk producing area in the north of the country and had to fertilize the fields with nitrogenous substances to cover the demand of food for cattle fodder polluting the aquifer of Ciudad Juarez, Durango, which is the short term hydrological reserve, as the main aquifer is contaminated by arsenic. The aim of this research was to evaluate the systemic risk and methemoglobin levels in children aged 1-12 years who consume water contaminated with N-NO-3. 11 wells were sampled for human consumption and 51 for agricultural use. There were three exposure scenarios: in drinking water, low with 0-3, mid 3.1-11.8, high >11.8mg / L of N-NO- 3, and agricultural wells with low 3, mid 64, high-124mg / L of N-NO-3. From 1750 children who reside in ten communities, a sample of 346 children was taken, at different exposure levels. The results showed that 45% of the wells represented health risk as they have values greater than 1, according to hazard ratio. Of all children who were studied, 150 had detectable levels of methemoglobin, 97 of these were male (64.6%) and 53 female (35.4%), some factors can potentiate the increase in methemoglobin levels as well water intake OR = 1.87 p <0.18 found detectable levels of methemoglobin from 11.8 mg / L of N-NO-3and an increased risk for male OR = 1.5 p <0.05. Keywords. nitrate nitrogen, water, methemoglobinemia, gender, risk evaluation