LUNG AND KIDNEY CANCER MORTALITY ASSOCIATED WITH ARSENIC IN DRINKING-WATER IN CORDOBA, ARGENTINA

Background Studies in Taiwan have found dose-response relations betwee n arsenic ingestion from drinking water and cancers of the skin, bladd er, lung, kidney and liver. To investigate these associations in anoth er population, we conducted a study in Cordoba, Argentina, which has a well-documented history of arsenic exposure from drinking water. Meth ods Mortality from lung, kidney, liver and skin cancers during the per iod 1986-1991 in Cordoba's 26 counties was investigated, expanding the authors' previous analysis of bladder cancer in the province. Countie s were grouped a priori into low, medium and high arsenic exposure cat egories based on available data. Standardized mortality ratios (SMR) w ere calculated using all of Argentina as the reference population. Res ults We found increasing trends for kidney and lung cancer mortality w ith arsenic exposure, with the following SMR, for men and women respec tively: kidney cancer, 0.87, 1.33, 1.57 and 1.00, 1.36, 1.81; lung can cer, 0.92, 1.54, 1.77 and 1.24, 1.34, 2.16 (in all cases, P = 0.001 in trend test), similar to the previously reported bladder cancer result s (0.80, 1.28, 2.14 for men, 1.22, 1.39, 1.81 for women). There was a small positive trend for liver cancer but mortality was increased in a ll three exposure groups. Skin cancer mortality was elevated for women only in the high exposure group, while men showed a puzzling increase in mortality in the low exposure group. Conclusions The results add t o the evidence that arsenic ingestion increases the risk of lung and k idney cancers. In this study, the association between arsenic and mort ality from liver and skin cancers was nor clear.