Environmental Health Research Centre, Institute for Medical Research, National Institutes of Health, Ministry of Health, Setia Alam, Malaysia.
Department of Community Health, Faculty of Medicine, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia Medical Centre, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
Front Public Health. 2023 Feb 16;11:998511. doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2023.998511. eCollection 2023.
Arsenic is a carcinogen element that occurs naturally in our environment. Humans can be exposed to arsenic through ingestion, inhalation, and dermal absorption. However, the most significant exposure pathway is oral ingestion. Therefore, a comparative cross-sectional study was conducted to determine the local arsenic concentration in drinking water and hair. Then, the prevalence of arsenicosis was evaluated to assess the presence of the disease in the community. The study was conducted in two villages, namely Village AG and Village P, in Perak, Malaysia. Socio-demographic data, water consumption patterns, medical history, and signs and symptoms of arsenic poisoning were obtained using questionnaires. In addition, physical examinations by medical doctors were performed to confirm the signs reported by the respondents. A total of 395 drinking water samples and 639 hair samples were collected from both villages. The samples were analyzed using Inductively Coupled Plasma-Mass Spectrometry (ICP-MS) to determine arsenic concentration. The results showed that 41% of water samples from Village AG contained arsenic concentrations of more than 0.01 mg/L. In contrast, none of the water samples from Village P exceeded this level. Whilst, for hair samples, 85 (13.5%) of total respondents had arsenic levels above 1 μg/g. A total of 18 respondents in Village AG had at least one sign of arsenicosis and hair arsenic levels of more than 1 μg/g. Factors significantly associated with increased arsenic levels in hair were female, increasing age, living in Village AG and smoking. The prevalence of arsenicosis in the exposed village indicates chronic arsenic exposure, and immediate mitigation action needs to be taken to ensure the wellbeing of the residents in the exposed village.
砷是一种天然存在于我们环境中的致癌元素。人类可以通过摄入、吸入和皮肤吸收接触砷。然而，最主要的暴露途径是口服摄入。因此，进行了一项对比性横断面研究，以确定饮用水和头发中的本地砷浓度。然后，评估砷中毒的患病率，以评估该疾病在社区中的存在。该研究在马来西亚霹雳州的两个村庄，即 AG 村和 P 村进行。使用问卷获取社会人口统计学数据、水消费模式、病史以及砷中毒的迹象和症状。此外，由医生进行身体检查以确认受访者报告的迹象。从两个村庄共采集了 395 份饮用水样本和 639 份头发样本。使用电感耦合等离子体质谱法（ICP-MS）对样本进行分析，以确定砷浓度。结果显示，AG 村 41%的水样中砷浓度超过 0.01mg/L。相比之下，P 村没有水样超过这一水平。而对于头发样本，总共有 85 名（13.5%）受访者的砷含量超过 1μg/g。AG 村共有 18 名受访者至少有一个砷中毒迹象，头发中的砷含量超过 1μg/g。与头发中砷含量增加显著相关的因素有女性、年龄增长、居住在 AG 村和吸烟。暴露村的砷中毒患病率表明存在慢性砷暴露，需要立即采取缓解措施，以确保暴露村居民的福祉。
