Urothelial cancer and chronic arsenicism

Conference · Mon Sep 01 00:00:00 EDT 1986 · Am. J. Epidemiol.; (United States)

OSTI ID:6785286

Lin, R S; Su, I J

A high prevalence of chronic arsenic poisoning (skin cancer and peripheral vascular disease) has been well documented in a limited area on the southwest coast of Taiwan, where artesian well water with a high concentration of arsenic has been consumed for more than 45 years. Recently, a high risk of urothelial cancer has also been found among residents of this endemic area. An analysis of cancer mortality data from 1968 to 1982 demonstrated that residents of the endemic area had more than a tenfold risk of dying from bladder or kidney cancer than the general population in Taiwan. A retrospective study of hospital admission records and pathologic reports between 1980 and 1984 from a referred medical center also revealed a relative risk higher than 50 for residents of the endemic area, as compared with residents of a nonendemic area, to develop transitional cell carcinomas of the renal pelvis, ureter, and bladder. The age at diagnosis was significantly younger among patients from the endemic area than among patients from the nonendemic area; the former tended to cluster around the sixth decade while the latter had a wide age distribution and peak at late ages. In addition, the equal male to female ratio (1.09) for urothelial cancer in residents of the endemic area, in contrast to a ratio of 4.27 in the general population seems to imply that a common environmental risk factor was shared by both sexes in the endemic area. These findings strongly suggest that chronic arsenicism may be an etiologic factor in the pathogenesis of urothelial cancer.

• Research Organization: National Taiwan Univ., Taipei
• OSTI ID: 6785286
• Report Number(s): CONF-860694-
• Journal Information: Am. J. Epidemiol.; (United States), Journal Name: Am. J. Epidemiol.; (United States) Vol. 124:3; ISSN AJEPA
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

560300* -- Chemicals Metabolism & Toxicology
63 RADIATION, THERMAL, AND OTHER ENVIRON. POLLUTANT EFFECTS ON LIVING ORGS. AND BIOL. MAT.
ARSENIC
BIOLOGICAL EFFECTS
BLADDER
BODY
CHRONIC EXPOSURE
DISEASE INCIDENCE
DISEASES
ELEMENTS
HAZARDS
HEALTH HAZARDS
KIDNEYS
NEOPLASMS
ORGANS
SEMIMETALS
URETERS
URINARY TRACT
UROGENITAL SYSTEM DISEASES