title: Lifetime exposure to arsenic in residential drinking water in Central Europe.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Methods and results are presented for an arsenic exposure assessment integral to an epidemiological case-control study of arsenic and cancer-the European Commission funded ASHRAM (Arsenic Health Risk Assessment and Molecular Epidemiology) study carried out in some counties of Hungary, Romania and Slovakia.
  
  
  METHODS
  The exposure history of each participant (N = 1,392) was constructed by taking into account how much water they consumed (as water, in drinks and in food), sources of drinking water in their various residences over their lifetime, and the concentrations of arsenic in their various water supplies measured by Hydride Generation-Atomic Absorption Spectrometry (HG-AAS). Concentrations of arsenic in previous water supplies were either derived from contemporary analyses of the same source, or from routine historical data from measurements performed by the authorities in each country. Using this approach, 80% of the recorded lifetime residential history was matched to an arsenic concentration. Seven indices of current, life time, and peak exposure were calculated.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The exposure indices were all log-normally distributed and the mean and median lifetime average concentrations were in Hungary 14.7 and 13.3 microg l(-1), Romania 3.8 and 0.7 microg l(-1) and in Slovakia 1.9 and 0.8 microg l(-1), respectively. Overall 25% of the population had average concentrations over 10 microg l(-1) and 8% with exposure over 50 microg l(-1).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Careful assessment of arsenic in drinking water supplies (both current and previous) enabled the majority of study participants' cumulative lifetime of potential exposure to arsenic in residential water to be characterised.
authors.affiliation: PEHRU Public and Environmental Health Research Unit, London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, Keppel Street, London, WC1E 7HT, UK.
authors.forename: Rupert Lloyd
authors.initials: RL
authors.lastname: Hough
authors.forename: Tony
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Fletcher
authors.forename: Giovanni Sebastiano
authors.initials: GS
authors.lastname: Leonardi
authors.forename: Walter
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Goessler
authors.forename: Patrizia
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Gnagnarella
authors.forename: Felicity
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Clemens
authors.forename: Eugen
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Gurzau
authors.forename: Kvetoslava
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Koppova
authors.forename: Peter
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Rudnai
authors.forename: Rajiv
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Kumar
authors.forename: Marie
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Vahter
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001151:Arsenic / Q000032:analysis*; D020261:Arsenic Poisoning / Q000150:complications / Q000453:epidemiology; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D004781:Environmental Exposure / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000032:analysis*; D005060:Europe; D005260:Female; D015438:Health Behavior; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000209:etiology; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D014874:Water Pollutants, Chemical / Q000032:analysis* / Q000506:poisoning; D014877:Water Pollution, Chemical / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000032:analysis*; D014881:Water Supply / Q000032:analysis*
chemical_list: D014874:Water Pollutants, Chemical; D001151:Arsenic
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