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Published in: International Archives of Occupational and Environmental Health 4/2010

01-04-2010 | Original Article

Factors impacting on the excess arseniasis prevalence due to indoor combustion of high arsenic coal in a hyperendemic village

Authors: Guo-Fang Lin, Hong Meng, Hui Du, Hong-Chao Lu, Yun-Shu Zhou, Ji-Gang Chen, Klaus Golka, Jia-Chun Lu, Jian-Hua Shen

Published in: International Archives of Occupational and Environmental Health | Issue 4/2010

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Abstract

Background

A few villages in Southwest Guizhou, China represented a unique case of arseniasis due to indoor combustion of high arsenic-content coal. The present study is aimed to analyze the contribution of possible factors or of their combination to excess prevalence of arseniasis in the exposed population.

Methods

An epidemiological investigation was conducted in all the members of three large ethnic, patrilineal clans in one of the hyperendemic villages (702 residents in 178 families, including 408 Han and 294 Hmong) where farmers of different ethnic origin have been living together in the same village for generations. A multilevel model logistic regression analysis was performed.

Results

The arseniasis prevalence was found to associate with the duration of As indoor exposure (years of high As coal burning and of poorly ventilated traditional stove using) and is largely dependent on the subject’s ethnicity and clan consanguinity, too. The prevalence of arseniasis in ethnic Han residents was significantly higher than that in their Hmong neighbors (35.0 vs 4.8% OR = 15.18, 95% CI = 3.45–67.35). Notable variances of arseniasis prevalence were observed not only between the ethnic Han clans (G1, G3, and B) and Hmong clan P, but also between different lineages (G1 and G2) inside the ethnic Han clan. Smokers suffered more frequently from arseniasis than non-smokers (47.3 vs 15.7% OR = 5.42, 95% CI = 2.25–12.93).

Conclusions

Arseniasis prevalence in this unique exposure case was impacted by an array of multiple factors. Besides a long-term indoor exposure to As, the ethnicity or the clan consanguinity of exposed subjects may play an important role, too.
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Metadata
Title
Factors impacting on the excess arseniasis prevalence due to indoor combustion of high arsenic coal in a hyperendemic village
Authors
Guo-Fang Lin
Hong Meng
Hui Du
Hong-Chao Lu
Yun-Shu Zhou
Ji-Gang Chen
Klaus Golka
Jia-Chun Lu
Jian-Hua Shen
Publication date
01-04-2010
Publisher
Springer-Verlag
Published in
International Archives of Occupational and Environmental Health / Issue 4/2010
Print ISSN: 0340-0131
Electronic ISSN: 1432-1246
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1007/s00420-009-0494-6

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