Chronic arsenic exposure through drinking water is a public health problem affecting millions of people worldwide, including at least 30 million in Bangladesh, an ICDDRB study has found.
The study, jointly conducted by the ICDDRB and four reputed universities, has also found that arsenic exposure has been increasing lung disease mortality among Bangladeshi adults.
It investigated the relationship between chronic arsenic exposure and skin lesion status with malignant and nonmalignant lung disease mortality in a Bangladeshi population.
The ICDDRB published the information on its website on August 11.
Arsenic is classified by the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) as a Group 1 carcinogen. The presence of high arsenic concentrations in tube wells in Bangladesh is resulting in severe health consequences.
The study screened 26,043 adult participants from the arsenic-affected Araihazar upazila in Narayanganj and Matlab upazila in Chandpur with an average of 8.5 years of follow-up until October 2013.
There were 156 non-malignant lung disease deaths and 90 lung cancer deaths confirmed during the surveyed time.
Persons with any arsenical skin lesions faced 4.5 times increased risk of lung cancer death compared to those without skin lesions.
The risk of lung cancer mortality further increased with increasing severity of the skin lesions and was found to be nine times higher in the most severe form.
“The findings provide strong evidence that ingestion of arsenic through drinking water has significantly increased the risk of death from nonmalignant [non-cancerous] lung diseases in a relatively short span [average 8.5 years] of follow-up, in addition to lung cancer mortality,” explained Dr Md Yunus, a scientist at the ICDDRB.
He also said: “Unless coordinated efforts are urgently taken to reduce arsenic exposure in the affected areas of Bangladesh, arsenic related deaths will continue to increase, leading to a public health catastrophe in Bangladesh.”
The study received research support from the National Institute of Health in the USA and was published in the Epidemiology journal in July 2014.
