Ecological correlation between arsenic level in well water and age-adjusted mortality from malignant neoplasms

A significant dose-response relation between ingested arsenic and several cancers has recently been reported in four townships of the endemic area of blackfoot disease, a unique peripheral artery disease related to the chronic arsenic exposure in southwestern Taiwan. This study was carried out to examine ecological correlations between arsenic level of well water and mortality from various malignant neoplasms in 314 precincts and townships of Taiwan. The arsenic content in water of 83,656 wells was determined by a standard mercuric bromide stain method from 1974 to 1976, while mortality rates of 21 malignant neoplasms among residents in study precincts and townships from 1972 to 1983 were standardized to the world population in 1976. A significant association with the arsenic level in well water was observed for cancers of the liver, nasal cavity, lung, skin, bladder and kidney in both males and females as well as for the prostate cancer in males. These associations remained significant after adjusting for indices of urbanization and industrialization through multiple regression analyses. The multivariate-adjusted regression coefficient indicating an increase in age-adjusted mortality per 100,000 person-years for every 0.1 ppm increase in arsenic level of well water was 6.8 and 2.0, 0.7 and 0.4, 5.3 and 5.3, 0.9 and 1.0, 3.9 and 4.2, as well as 1.1 and 1.7, respectively, in males and females for cancers of the liver, nasal cavity, lung, skin, bladder and kidney. The multivariate-adjusted regression coefficient for the prostate cancer was 0.5. These weighted regression coefficients were found to increase or remain unchanged in further analyses in which only 170 southwestern townships were included.