Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 1998 Oct;27(5):871-7.
doi: 10.1093/ije/27.5.871.

Arsenic levels in drinking water and the prevalence of skin lesions in West Bengal, India

D N Guha Mazumder  1 , R Haque, N Ghosh, B K De, A Santra, D Chakraborty, A H Smith
Affiliations

Arsenic levels in drinking water and the prevalence of skin lesions in West Bengal, India

D N Guha Mazumder et al. Int J Epidemiol. 1998 Oct.

Abstract

Background: A cross-sectional survey was conducted between April 1995 and March 1996 to investigate arsenic-associated skin lesions of keratosis and hyperpigmentation in West Bengal, India, and to determine their relationship to arsenic water levels.

Methods: In all, 7683 participants were examined and interviewed, and the arsenic levels in their drinking water measured.

Results: Although water concentrations ranged up to 3400 microg/l of arsenic, over 80% of participants were consuming water containing <500 microg/l. The age-adjusted prevalence of keratosis was strongly related to water arsenic levels, rising from zero in the lowest exposure level (<50 microg/l) to 8.3 per 100 for females drinking water containing >800 microg/l, and increasing from 0.2 per 100 in the lowest exposure category to 10.7 per 100 for males in the highest exposure level (> or =800 microg/l). However, 12 cases with keratosis (2 females and 10 males) were drinking water containing <100 microg/l of arsenic. Findings were similar for hyperpigmentation, with strong dose-response relationships. Among those with hyperpigmentation, 29 cases were exposed to drinking water containing <100 microg/l. Calculation by dose per body weight showed that men had roughly two to three times the prevalence of both keratosis and hyperpigmentation compared to women apparently ingesting the same dose of arsenic from drinking water. Subjects who were below 80% of the standard body weight for their age and sex had a 1.6 fold increase in the prevalence of keratoses, suggesting that malnutrition may play a small role in increasing susceptibility.

Conclusion: The surprising finding of cases who had arsenic-associated skin lesions with apparently low exposure to arsenic in drinking water needs to be confirmed in studies with more detailed exposure assessment. Further research is also needed concerning susceptibility factors which might be present in the exposed population.

PubMed Disclaimer

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

  • Update of the risk assessment of inorganic arsenic in food.
    EFSA Panel on Contaminants in the Food Chain (CONTAM); Schrenk D, Bignami M, Bodin L, Chipman JK, Del Mazo J, Grasl-Kraupp B, Hogstrand C, Hoogenboom LR, Leblanc JC, Nebbia CS, Nielsen E, Ntzani E, Petersen A, Sand S, Vleminckx C, Wallace H, Barregård L, Benford D, Broberg K, Dogliotti E, Fletcher T, Rylander L, Abrahantes JC, Gómez Ruiz JÁ, Steinkellner H, Tauriainen T, Schwerdtle T. EFSA Panel on Contaminants in the Food Chain (CONTAM), et al. EFSA J. 2024 Jan 18;22(1):e8488. doi: 10.2903/j.efsa.2024.8488. eCollection 2024 Jan. EFSA J. 2024. PMID: 38239496 Free PMC article.
  • Association between serum periostin levels and the severity of arsenic-induced skin lesions.
    Khatun M, Siddique AE, Wahed AS, Haque N, Tony SR, Islam J, Alam S, Sarker MK, Kabir I, Hossain S, Sumi D, Saud ZA, Barchowsky A, Himeno S, Hossain K. Khatun M, et al. PLoS One. 2023 Jan 4;18(1):e0279893. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0279893. eCollection 2023. PLoS One. 2023. PMID: 36598904 Free PMC article.
  • Mulberry leaves juice attenuates arsenic-induced neurobehavioral and hepatic disorders in mice.
    Islam Z, Islam J, Tony SR, Anjum A, Ferdous R, Roy AK, Hossain S, Salam KA, Nikkon F, Hossain K, Saud ZA. Islam Z, et al. Food Sci Nutr. 2022 Aug 17;10(12):4360-4370. doi: 10.1002/fsn3.3028. eCollection 2022 Dec. Food Sci Nutr. 2022. PMID: 36514774 Free PMC article.
  • Synthesis of Novel Arsonolipids and Development of Novel Arsonoliposome Types.
    Mourtas S, Papadia K, Kordopati GG, Ioannou PV, Antimisiaris SG, Tsivgoulis GM. Mourtas S, et al. Pharmaceutics. 2022 Aug 8;14(8):1649. doi: 10.3390/pharmaceutics14081649. Pharmaceutics. 2022. PMID: 36015274 Free PMC article.
  • Arsenic exposure impairs intestinal stromal cells.
    Kellett MP, Jatko JT, Darling CL, Ventrello SW, Bain LJ. Kellett MP, et al. Toxicol Lett. 2022 May 15;361:54-63. doi: 10.1016/j.toxlet.2022.03.006. Epub 2022 Apr 1. Toxicol Lett. 2022. PMID: 35378173 Free PMC article.
See all "Cited by" articles

Publication types

LinkOut - more resources

-