title: Arsenic levels in the groundwater of Korea and the urinary excretion among contaminated area.
abstract: Drinking water is a main source of human exposure to arsenic. Hence, the determination of arsenic in groundwater is essential to assess its impact on public health. Here, we report arsenic levels in the groundwater of 722 sites covering all six major provinces of Korea. Water was sampled in two occasions (summer, 722 sites and winter, 636 sites) and the arsenic levels were measured with highly sensitive inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry method (limit of detection, 0.1 μg/l) to encompass the current drinking water standard (<10 μg/l). Seasonal variation was negligible, but the geographical difference was prominent. Total arsenic in groundwater ranged from 0.1 to 48.4 μg/l. A 88.0-89.0% of sites were <2.0 μg/l and the remaining ones generally did not exceed 10 μg/l (6.4-7.0%, 2.0-4.9 μg/l; 2.4-3.0%, 5.0-9.9 μg/l). However, some areas (1.0-9.2%) exhibited >10 μg/l. Notably, urinary arsenic excretion of people around these regions was markedly higher compared with non-contaminated areas (<5 μg/l) (79.7±5.2 μg/g (N=122) vs 68.4±5.4 μg/g (N=65) creatinine, P=0.052). All stratified analysis also revealed higher urinary excretion, where a statistically significant difference was noted for non-smokers (85.9±12.7 vs 54.0±6.3, P=0.030), suggesting that arsenic-contaminated groundwater may contribute to its systemic exposure.
authors.affiliation: College of Medicine, Chung-Ang University, Seoul, South Korea.
authors.forename: Jung-Duck
authors.initials: JD
authors.lastname: Park
authors.affiliation: College of Medicine, Chung-Ang University, Seoul, South Korea.|Inhalation Toxicology Center, Korea Institute of Toxicology, Daejeon, South Korea.
authors.forename: Seong-Jin
authors.initials: SJ
authors.lastname: Choi
authors.affiliation: College of Medicine, Chung-Ang University, Seoul, South Korea.
authors.forename: Byung-Sun
authors.initials: BS
authors.lastname: Choi
authors.affiliation: Ulsan University Hospital, Ulsan, South Korea.
authors.forename: Choong-Ryeol
authors.initials: CR
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.affiliation: College of Medicine, Chungbuk National University, Cheongju, South Korea.
authors.forename: Heon
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.affiliation: College of Medicine, Chungbuk National University, Cheongju, South Korea.
authors.forename: Yong-Dae
authors.initials: YD
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.affiliation: Advanced Analysis Center, Korea Institute of Science and Technology, Seoul, South Korea.
authors.forename: Kyung-Soo
authors.initials: KS
authors.lastname: Park
authors.affiliation: College of Natural Sciences, Seoul National University, Seoul, South Korea.
authors.forename: Young-Jo
authors.initials: YJ
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.affiliation: College of Pharmacy, Seoul National University, Seoul, South Korea.
authors.forename: Seojin
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Kang
authors.affiliation: College of Pharmacy, Ewha Womans University, Seoul, South Korea.
authors.forename: Kyung-Min
authors.initials: KM
authors.lastname: Lim
authors.affiliation: College of Pharmacy, Seoul National University, Seoul, South Korea.
authors.forename: Jin-Ho
authors.initials: JH
authors.lastname: Chung
mesh_terms: D001151:Arsenic / Q000652:urine*; D060766:Drinking Water / Q000032:analysis / Q000737:chemistry*; D004781:Environmental Exposure / Q000032:analysis; D004784:Environmental Monitoring / Q000379:methods; D005843:Geography; D060587:Groundwater; D006801:Humans; D008377:Maps as Topic; D013058:Mass Spectrometry; D056910:Republic of Korea; D012621:Seasons; D014874:Water Pollutants, Chemical / Q000652:urine*
chemical_list: D060766:Drinking Water; D014874:Water Pollutants, Chemical; D001151:Arsenic