TY - JOUR
T1 - Age at Exposure to Arsenic in Water and Mortality 30-40 Years after Exposure Cessation
AU - Roh, Taehyun
AU - Steinmaus, Craig
AU - Marshall, Guillermo
AU - Ferreccio, Catterina
AU - Liaw, Jane
AU - Smith, Allan H.
N1 - Funding Information:
Author affiliations: Arsenic Health Effects Research Group, School of Public Health, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, California (Taehyun Roh, Craig Steinmaus, Jane Liaw, Allan H. Smith); Departamento de Estadística, Facultad de Matemáticas, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Santiago, Chile (Guillermo Marshall); and Advanced Center for Chronic Diseases, Escuela de Medicina, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Santiago, Chile (Catterina Ferreccio). This work was funded by the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, US National Institutes of Health (grants R01 ES014032 and P42 ES04705). Conflict of interest: none declared.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2018 The Author(s).
PY - 2018/11/1
Y1 - 2018/11/1
N2 - Arsenic in drinking water is known to cause cancer and noncancer diseases, but little is known about its association with age at exposure. Here, we investigated age at arsenic exposure and mortality in Antofagasta, Chile, 30-40 years after a distinct period of very high water arsenic concentrations (1958-1970).We calculated standardizedmortality ratios (SMRs) comparing Antofagasta with the rest ofChile for 2001-2010 by sex and age at potential first exposure. A remarkable relationship with age at first exposure was found for bronchiectasis, with increased risk in adults 30-40 years after exposure being confined to those who were in utero (SMR = 11.7, 95% confidence interval (CI): 4.3, 25.4) or aged 1-10 years (SMR = 5.4, 95% CI: 1.1, 15.8) during the high-exposure period. Increased SMRs for lung, bladder, and laryngeal cancer were evident for exposures starting at all ages, but the highest SMRs were for exposures beginning at birth (for bladder cancer, SMR = 16.0 (95% CI: 10.3, 23.8); for laryngeal cancer, SMR = 6.8 (95% CI: 2.2, 15.8); for lung cancer, SMR = 3.8 (95% CI: 2.9, 4.9)). These findings suggest that interventions targeting early-life arsenic exposure could have major impacts in reducing long-term mortality due to arsenic 30-40 years after exposure ends.
AB - Arsenic in drinking water is known to cause cancer and noncancer diseases, but little is known about its association with age at exposure. Here, we investigated age at arsenic exposure and mortality in Antofagasta, Chile, 30-40 years after a distinct period of very high water arsenic concentrations (1958-1970).We calculated standardizedmortality ratios (SMRs) comparing Antofagasta with the rest ofChile for 2001-2010 by sex and age at potential first exposure. A remarkable relationship with age at first exposure was found for bronchiectasis, with increased risk in adults 30-40 years after exposure being confined to those who were in utero (SMR = 11.7, 95% confidence interval (CI): 4.3, 25.4) or aged 1-10 years (SMR = 5.4, 95% CI: 1.1, 15.8) during the high-exposure period. Increased SMRs for lung, bladder, and laryngeal cancer were evident for exposures starting at all ages, but the highest SMRs were for exposures beginning at birth (for bladder cancer, SMR = 16.0 (95% CI: 10.3, 23.8); for laryngeal cancer, SMR = 6.8 (95% CI: 2.2, 15.8); for lung cancer, SMR = 3.8 (95% CI: 2.9, 4.9)). These findings suggest that interventions targeting early-life arsenic exposure could have major impacts in reducing long-term mortality due to arsenic 30-40 years after exposure ends.
KW - Chile
KW - age at first exposure
KW - arsenic
KW - drinking water
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U2 - 10.1093/aje/kwy159
DO - 10.1093/aje/kwy159
M3 - Article
C2 - 30084889
AN - SCOPUS:85055134685
VL - 187
SP - 2297
EP - 2305
JO - American Journal of Epidemiology
JF - American Journal of Epidemiology
SN - 0002-9262
IS - 11
ER -