Mutagenic drinking water and risk of male esophageal cancer: A population-based case-control study

Drinking mutagenic downstream water from the Huangpu River was hypothesized to have increased the risk for male esophageal cancer in Shanghai, China. The authors conducted a population-based case-control study of a total of 7 1 esophageal cancer deaths and 1,122 controls collected during a g-year fol low-up period, 1984-1988, from four male cohorts born before January 1, 194 4, living in four communities consuming water with different mutagenicities in the Shanghai area. The controls represented a 1% random sample of the d efined living cohorts selected at the end of each of the 5 years of follow- up. Logistic regression Showed an odds ratio of 2.77 (95% confidence interv al: 1.52, 5.03) for drinking mutagenic downstream water from the river vers us drinking nonmutagenic upstream water after controlling for possible conf ounders including age, disease history (hepatitis, cirrhosis, schistosomias is, digestive tract ulcer), hazardous occupational history, pesticide expos ure, lifestyle factors (cigarette smoking, tea intake, and alcohol intake), dietary habits (intake of pickled vegetables, maize, peanuts, and cured me at), education, poverty, urban environment, and water chlorination.