title: High risks of lung disease associated with early-life and moderate lifetime arsenic exposure in northern Chile.
abstract: Arsenic in drinking water has been associated with increases in lung disease, but information on the long-term impacts of early-life exposure or moderate exposure levels are limited.
  
  
  
  We investigated pulmonary disease and lung function in 795 subjects from three socio-demographically similar areas in northern Chile: Antofagasta, which had a well-described period of high arsenic water concentrations (860μg/L) from 1958 to 1970; Iquique, which had long-term arsenic water concentrations near 60μg/L; and Arica, with long-term water concentrations ≤10μg/L.
  
  
  
  Compared to adults never exposed >10μg/L, adults born in Antofagasta during the high exposure period had elevated odds ratios (OR) of respiratory symptoms (e.g., OR for shortness of breath=5.56, 90% confidence interval (CI): 2.68-11.5), and decreases in pulmonary function (e.g., 224mL decrease in forced vital capacity in nonsmokers, 90% CI: 97-351mL). Subjects with long-term exposure to arsenic water concentrations near 60μg/L also had increases in some pulmonary symptoms and reduced lung function.
  
  
  
  Overall, these findings provide new evidence that in utero or childhood arsenic exposure is associated with non-malignant pulmonary disease in adults. They also provide preliminary new evidence that long-term exposures to moderate levels of arsenic may be associated with lung toxicity, although the magnitude of these latter findings were greater than expected and should be confirmed.
authors.affiliation: Arsenic Health Effects Research Program, UC Berkeley School of Public Health, Berkeley, CA, USA. Electronic address: craigs@berkeley.edu.
authors.forename: Craig
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Steinmaus
authors.affiliation: School of Medicine, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Santiago, Chile; Advanced Center for Chronic Diseases (ACCDiS), FONDAP, Santiago, Chile.
authors.forename: Catterina
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Ferreccio
authors.affiliation: School of Medicine, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Santiago, Chile; Advanced Center for Chronic Diseases (ACCDiS), FONDAP, Santiago, Chile.
authors.forename: Johanna
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Acevedo
authors.affiliation: Arsenic Health Effects Research Program, UC Berkeley School of Public Health, Berkeley, CA, USA; Department of Medicine, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, USA.
authors.forename: John R
authors.initials: JR
authors.lastname: Balmes
authors.affiliation: Arsenic Health Effects Research Program, UC Berkeley School of Public Health, Berkeley, CA, USA.
authors.forename: Jane
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Liaw
authors.affiliation: Laboratorio de Anatomía Patológica Dra. Patricia Troncoso, Iquique, Chile; Hospital Felix Bulnes, Departmento de Anatomía Patológica, Santiago, Chile.
authors.forename: Patricia
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Troncoso
authors.affiliation: Arsenic Health Effects Research Program, UC Berkeley School of Public Health, Berkeley, CA, USA.
authors.forename: David C
authors.initials: DC
authors.lastname: Dauphiné
authors.affiliation: Global Health Sciences Program, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, USA.
authors.forename: Anthony
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Nardone
authors.affiliation: Arsenic Health Effects Research Program, UC Berkeley School of Public Health, Berkeley, CA, USA.
authors.forename: Allan H
authors.initials: AH
authors.lastname: Smith
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001151:Arsenic / Q000633:toxicity*; D002677:Chile / Q000453:epidemiology; D060766:Drinking Water / Q000737:chemistry; D004781:Environmental Exposure; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008171:Lung Diseases / Q000139:chemically induced / Q000453:epidemiology*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012307:Risk Factors; D014874:Water Pollutants, Chemical / Q000633:toxicity
chemical_list: D060766:Drinking Water; D014874:Water Pollutants, Chemical; D001151:Arsenic
keywords: Arsenic; Chile; Drinking water; Early life; Long-term exposures; Lung function; Pulmonary disease