Exposure to metal mixture and growth indicators at 4-5 years. A study in the INMA-Asturias cohort

Exposure to toxic and non-toxic metals impacts childhood growth and development, but limited data exists on exposure to metal mixtures. Here, we investigated the effects of exposure to individual metals and a mixture of barium, cadmium, cobalt, lead, molybdenum, zinc, and arsenic on growth indicators in children 4-5 years of age.The authors would particularly like to thank the staff from Hospital San Agustin in Aviles for their valuable support and all the participants enrolled in the INMA-Asturias cohort for their generous collaboration. This research was funded by grants from, CIBERESP (PhD-employment-contract and fellowship for short stays abroad-2019), ISCIII: PI04/2018, PI09/02311, PI13/02429, PI18/00909 co-funded by the European Regional Development Fund (FEDER), “A way to make Europe"/"Investing in your future”; Obra Social Cajastur/Fundación Liberbank, and Universidad de Oviedo. A.J.S.P. and M.R.K. are funded by the following projects P01ES022832, RD83544201, R25CA134286, and P42ES007373. A.J.S.P. is also funded by CIDEGENT /2020/050. We thank Katherine Thieltges from Edanz (https://www.edanz.com/ac) for editing a draft of this manuscript.Peer reviewe