An association of human congenital cardiac malformations and drinking water contaminants

Journal Article · Sun Jul 01 04:00:00 EDT 1990 · Journal of the American College of Cardiology; (USA)

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1016/0735-1097(90)90473-3· OSTI ID:6875905

Goldberg, S J; Lebowitz, M D; Graver, E J; Hicks, S ^[1]

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1. Univ. of Arizona, Tucson (USA)

During an informal study in 1973 it was noted that approximately one third of patients with congenital heart disease lived in a small area in the Tucson Valley. In 1981 groundwater for a nearly identical area was found to be contaminated with trichloroethylene and to a lesser extent with dichloroethylene and chromium. Contamination probably began during the 1950s. Affected wells were closed after discovery of contamination. This sequence of events allowed investigation of the prevalence of congenital heart disease in children whose parents were exposed to the contaminated water area as compared with children whose parents were never exposed to the contaminated water area. The contaminated water area contained 8.8% of the Tucson Valley population and 4.5% of the labor force. Using their case registry, the authors interviewed parents of 707 children with congenital heart disease who, between 1969 and 1987, (1) conceived their child in the Tucson Valley, and (2) spent the month before the first trimester and the first trimester of the case pregnancy in the Tucson Valley. Two random dialing surveys showed that only 10.5% of the Tucson Valley population had ever had work or residence contact, or both, with the contaminated water area, whereas 35% of parents of children with congenital heart disease had had such contact (p less than 0.005). The prevalence of congenital cardiac disease in the Tucson Valley was 0.7% of live births and with syndromes was calculated to be 0.82%. The odds ratio for congenital heart disease for children of parents with contaminated water area contact during the period of active contamination was three times that for those without contact (p less than 0.005) and decreased to near unity for new arrivals in the contaminated water area after well closure.

• OSTI ID: 6875905
• Journal Information: Journal of the American College of Cardiology; (USA), Journal Name: Journal of the American College of Cardiology; (USA) Vol. 16:1; ISSN 0735-1097; ISSN JACCD
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES
540320* -- Environment
Aquatic-- Chemicals Monitoring & Transport-- (1990-)
560300 -- Chemicals Metabolism & Toxicology
63 RADIATION, THERMAL, AND OTHER ENVIRON. POLLUTANT EFFECTS ON LIVING ORGS. AND BIOL. MAT.
AGE GROUPS
ARIZONA
CARDIOVASCULAR DISEASES
CHILDREN
CHLORINATED ALIPHATIC HYDROCARBONS
CHROMIUM
CONTAMINATION
DISEASES
ELEMENTS
EPIDEMIOLOGY
FEDERAL REGION IX
GROUND WATER
HALOGENATED ALIPHATIC HYDROCARBONS
HYDROGEN COMPOUNDS
METALS
NORTH AMERICA
ORGANIC CHLORINE COMPOUNDS
ORGANIC COMPOUNDS
ORGANIC HALOGEN COMPOUNDS
OXYGEN COMPOUNDS
POLLUTION
PREGNANCY
TERATOGENESIS
TRANSITION ELEMENTS
USA
WATER
WATER POLLUTION
WATER SUPPLY