Case-control study of arsenicosis in some arsenic contaminated villages of Bangladesh

This study compared the arsenicosis cases and frequency matched controls in Bangladesh by some selected sociodemographic characteristics, drinking water related characteristics, perceived health problems, and blood chemicals. From four arsenic contaminated villages of a district in Bangladesh, 117 cases （male=55, female=62） and 120 controls （male=56, female=64） based on age and sex are selected for analyses. Arsenicosis cases were selected using the criterion of having either melanosis or keratosis at the time of survey. Various information relating to above-mentioned characteristics were collected from both cases and controls including aspartate aminotransferase （AST）, alanine aminotransferase （ALT）, hemoglobin, total bilirubin and random blood sugar. We approached 138 cases and 142 controls for blood collection, of which 117 （84.8%） and 120 （83.3%） gave complete information. The mean age （± standard deviation） of the cases and controls was 46.0 （± 16.2） and 45.2 （± 13.9） years respectively. Among the cases, rate of having melanosis and keratosis were 93.2% and 73.5% respectively. Cases reported significantly: less education, higher single marital status, higher mud based floor material, less TV ownership, less TV watching daily, worse perceived health status, higher dissatisfaction by daily activities, higher abnormal result of the arsenic test and red painting （arsenic contaminated） status of the tubewell than controls. Cases also reported significantly higher health problems such as conjunctivitis, losing hair, chronic cough, problem in the eye and ear, weakness, weight loss, loss of appetite and depression than controls. Mean total bilirubin and AST were significantly higher among cases than controls. The logistic regression model- adjusted for age, sex, body mass index （BMI）, marital status, education, occupation, smoking status, watching TV daily and perceived health status- showed that arsenicosis was positively associated with the highest quartile of bilirubin （OR=4.84; 95% confidence interval （CI）=1.51-15.52） and AST （OR=2.94; 95% CI=1.15-7.52）. Results suggest that arsenicosis cases are associated with poor socio-economic and health status as well as with liver dysfunction. However, these findings should be validated by further studies with large number of subjects.departmental bulletin pape