Factors impacting on the excess arseniasis prevalence due to indoor combustion of high arsenic coal in a hyperendemic village.
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.
Lin
Guo-Fang
GF
Shanghai Institutes for Biological Sciences, Institute of Plant Physiology and Ecology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 200032, Shanghai, China.
Meng
Hong
H
Du
Hui
H
Lu
Hong-Chao
HC
Zhou
Yun-Shu
YS
Chen
Ji-Gang
JG
Golka
Klaus
K
Lu
Jia-Chun
JC
Shen
Jian-Hua
JH
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D016902:Air Pollution, Indoor / Q000009:adverse effects* / Q000032:analysis; D020261:Arsenic Poisoning / Q000208:ethnology* / Q000209:etiology / Q000235:genetics; D002648:Child; D002681:China / Q000453:epidemiology; D003031:Coal / Q000009:adverse effects* / Q000032:analysis; D003241:Consanguinity; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D004781:Environmental Exposure / Q000009:adverse effects* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D016017:Odds Ratio; D011159:Population Surveillance; D015995:Prevalence; D012044:Regression Analysis; D012307:Risk Factors; D012424:Rural Population / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D055815:Young Adult
D003031:Coal