Journal Article Ppublish
PubMed: 39254349 DOI: 10.1080/09603123.2024.2400701
Disinfection byproducts in US drinking water and cancer mortality.
Int J Environ Health Res 35(6):1650-1660
Authors: Angelico Mendy
Affiliations
- Division of Epidemiology, Department of Environmental and Public Health Sciences, University of Cincinnati College of Medicine, Cincinnati, OH, USA.
Abstract
Trihalomethanes, the main drinking water disinfection byproducts, may be carcinogenic and are regulated to amaximum total trihalomethanes (TTHM) of 80 µg/l in the US. We aimed to determine whether total and individual trihalomethanes in drinking water across the US are associated with higher cancer mortality in 6,260 adult participants to the National Health and Nutrition Examination Surveys from 1999 to 2008 followed for mortality until 2019 (median: 14.4 years). At baseline, the geometric mean (standard error) of TTHM in drinking water was 9.61 (0.85) µg/l. During follow-up, 873 deaths occurred, including 207 from cancer. In Cox proportional hazards regression adjusted for relevant covariates, drinking water TTHM (HR: 1.45, 95% CI: 1.16-1.82), chloroform (HR: 1.35, 95% CI: 1.12-1.64), and bromodichloromethane (HR: 1.30, 95% CI: 1.05-1.59) were associated with 30% to 45% higher cancer mortality. Therefore, drinking water trihalomethanes, especially chloroform and bromodichloromethane maybe risk factors for cancer mortality.
MeSH
Environmental Exposure, Mortality, Occupational Health, Neoplasms, Drinking Water, Chloroform, Environmental Health, Drinking, Disinfection, Trihalomethanes