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
. 2015 Feb;123(2):128-34.
doi: 10.1289/ehp.1307839. Epub 2014 Oct 28.

Association between lifetime exposure to inorganic arsenic in drinking water and coronary heart disease in Colorado residents

Katherine A James  1 , Tim Byers, John E Hokanson, Jaymie R Meliker, Gary O Zerbe, Julie A Marshall
Affiliations

Association between lifetime exposure to inorganic arsenic in drinking water and coronary heart disease in Colorado residents

Katherine A James et al. Environ Health Perspect. 2015 Feb.

Abstract

Background: Chronic diseases, including coronary heart disease (CHD), have been associated with ingestion of drinking water with high levels of inorganic arsenic (> 1,000 μg/L). However, associations have been inconclusive in populations with lower levels (< 100 μg/L) of inorganic arsenic exposure.

Objectives: We conducted a case-cohort study based on individual estimates of lifetime arsenic exposure to examine the relationship between chronic low-level arsenic exposure and risk of CHD.

Methods: This study included 555 participants with 96 CHD events diagnosed between 1984 and 1998 for which individual lifetime arsenic exposure estimates were determined using data from structured interviews and secondary data sources to determine lifetime residence, which was linked to a geospatial model of arsenic concentrations in drinking water. These lifetime arsenic exposure estimates were correlated with historically collected urinary arsenic concentrations. A Cox proportional-hazards model with time-dependent CHD risk factors was used to assess the association between time-weighted average (TWA) lifetime exposure to low-level inorganic arsenic in drinking water and incident CHD.

Results: We estimated a positive association between low-level inorganic arsenic exposure and CHD risk [hazard ratio (HR): = 1.38, 95% CI: 1.09, 1.78] per 15 μg/L while adjusting for age, sex, first-degree family history of CHD, and serum low-density lipoprotein levels. The risk of CHD increased monotonically with increasing TWAs for inorganic arsenic exposure in water relative to < 20 μg/L (HR = 1.2, 95% CI: 0.6, 2.2 for 20-30 μg/L; HR = 2.2; 95% CI: 1.2, 4.0 for 30-45 μg/L; and HR = 3, 95% CI: 1.1, 9.1 for 45-88 μg/L).

Conclusions: Lifetime exposure to low-level inorganic arsenic in drinking water was associated with increased risk for CHD in this population.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare they have no actual or potential competing financial interests.

Comment in

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

See all "Cited by" articles

References

    1. Abernathy CO, Thomas DJ, Calderon RL. Health effects and risk assessment for arsenic. J Nutr. 2003;133(5) suppl 1:1536S–1538S. - PubMed
    1. Abhyankar LN, Jones MR, Guallar E, Navas-Acien A.2012Arsenic exposure and hypertension: a systematic review. Environ Health Perspect 120494–500.; 10.1289/ehp.1103988 - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry. Toxicological Profile for Arsenic (Update). Atlanta, GA:U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Public Health Service. 2007. Available: http://www.atsdr.cdc.gov/ToxProfiles/tp2.pdf [accessed 12 January 2015] - PubMed
    1. Ayotte JD, Nolan BT, Nuckols JR, Cantor KP, Robinson GR, Jr, Baris D, et al. Modeling the probability of arsenic in groundwater in New England as a tool for exposure assessment. Environ Sci Technol. 2006;40(11):3578–3585. - PubMed
    1. Bae ON, Lim EK, Lim KM, Noh JY, Chung SM, Lee MY, et al. Vascular smooth muscle dysfunction induced by monomethylarsonousacid (MMAIII): a contributing factor to arsenic-associated cardiovascular diseases. Environ Res. 2008;108:300–308. - PubMed
-