Association between Arsenic Concentration of Groundwater and Mortality from Leukemia and Urological Cancers in the Northwest of Iran

Abstract

Aim: The present study aims to determine the relationship between arsenic (As) concentration in groundwater and mortality rates due to urological and leukemia malignancies in Hamadan, as a hotspot of As concentration. Materials and Methods: The inverse distance weighting method in ArcGIS 10.8 software was used to show spatial patterns of As concentration. A total of 370 samples of tap water from urban and rural areas in all nine countries of the Hamadan province were collected by grab method. Poisson regression analysis was performed for comparing Kabudarahang region (As exposed) with the rest of the countries in Hamadan province during 2016–2020, for leukemia (ICD-10 code C90-95), bladder (ICD-10 code C67-67.9), and kidney (ICD-10, code C64-65) cancers. Results: Regarding leukemia, both Poisson regression and dose-response analysis supported an association between As concentration in drinking water and the risk of death. However, based on Poisson regression, no statistically significant association was observed for As levels and the mortality rates due to bladder and kidney cancers. In the linear regression fitting, for each unit increase of As concentration in groundwater, the mortality rates of leukemia increased by an average of 0.33 (P = 0.03), and according to the Poisson regression, leukemia mortality was elevated for Kabudarahang region comparing with the rest of the Hamadan province (relative risk = 1.91, 95% confidence interval = 1.24–2.92, P = 0.003). Conclusion: Therefore, due to the toxic and carcinogenic properties of As species, to reduce the related health risks, some managing programs, including screening, community education, and intervention, should be developed in the As-contaminated areas.