Socioeconomic Status and Risk for Arsenic-Related Skin Lesions in Bangladesh

Arsenic contamination of groundwater is a severe public health crisis in Bangladesh, where the population is exposed to arsenic in drinking water through tube wells used for groundwater collection. In this study, we explored the association between socioeconomic status and arsenic toxicity. We used...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inAmerican journal of public health (1971) Vol. 97; no. 5; pp. 825 - 831
Main Authors Argos, Maria, Parvez, Faruque, Chen, Yu, Hussain, A.Z.M. Iftikhar, Momotaj, Hassina, Howe, Geoffrey R, Graziano, Joseph H, Ahsan, Habibul
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Washington, DC Am Public Health Assoc 01.05.2007
American Public Health Association
American Journal of Public Health 2007
Subjects
Adolescent
Adult
Aged
Arsenic
Arsenic - adverse effects
Bangladesh - epidemiology
Biological and medical sciences
Cohort Studies
Cooking
Couples
Creatinine
Drinking water
Female
Food
Groundwater
Groundwater pollution
Households
Humans
Landowners
Longitudinal studies
Male
Mass spectrometry
Medical sciences
Middle Aged
Miscellaneous
Oil consumption
Ownership
Polls & surveys
Public health
Public health. Hygiene
Public health. Hygiene-occupational medicine
Questionnaires
Research and Practice
Risk Factors
Scientific imaging
Skin
Skin cancer
Skin Diseases - chemically induced
Skin Diseases - economics
Skin Diseases - epidemiology
Social Class
Socioeconomic factors
Studies
Water Supply - economics
Women
Asia
Bangladesh
Skin disease
Socioeconomic status
Arsenic
Risk factor
Risk
Social aspect
Public health
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Summary:Arsenic contamination of groundwater is a severe public health crisis in Bangladesh, where the population is exposed to arsenic in drinking water through tube wells used for groundwater collection. In this study, we explored the association between socioeconomic status and arsenic toxicity. We used baseline data from 11438 men and women who were recruited into the Health Effects of Arsenic Longitudinal Study (HEALS), a prospective cohort study on the health effects of arsenic exposure in Bangladesh. We conducted analyses with logistic regression and generalized estimating equations. We found a strong dose-response association with all measures of arsenic exposure and skin lesions. We also found that the effect of arsenic was modified by land ownership on a multiplicative scale, with an increased risk among non-land owners associated with well water arsenic (P=.04) and urinary total arsenic concentrations (P=.03). Our study provides insight into potentially modifiable host characteristics and identifies factors that may effectively target susceptible population subgroups for appropriate interventions.
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Peer Reviewed
Requests for reprints should be sent to Habibul Ahsan, MD, MMedSc, Department of Health Studies, University of Chicago, 5841 S Maryland Ave, MC 2007, Chicago, IL 60637 (e-mail: habib@uchicago.edu).
Contributors…M. Argos analyzed the data, interpreted the results, and wrote the article. F. Parvez and Y. Chen assisted with analyzing the data and interpreting the analyses. A.Z.M.I. Hussain and H. Momotaj assisted with planning and conducting the study. G.R. Howe and J.H. Graziano assisted with planning the study, interpreting the analyses, and reviewing the article. H. Ahsan assisted with planning of the study, interpreting the analyses, and writing and reviewing the article.
ISSN:0090-0036
1541-0048
DOI:10.2105/AJPH.2005.078816