Geographic patterns of hepatocellular carcinoma mortality with exposure to iron in groundwater in Taiwanese population: An ecological study

BMC Public Health

Yung-Po Liaw⁷  Shih-Chang Chen⁴  Yi-Chen Chiang³  Chia-Chen Pan⁵  Jing-Yang Huang⁵  Pei-Chieh Ko⁵  Yi-Hua Iris Sun⁶  Chien-Chang Ho¹  Chia-Chi Lung³  Horng-Jeng Shyu² 

[1] Department of Health and Leisure Management, Yuanpei University, Hsinchu City 30015, Taiwan;Department of Healthcare Administration, Asia University, Taichung City 41354, Taiwan;Department of Family and Community Medicine, Chung Shan Medical University Hospital, Taichung 40201, Taiwan;Department of Leisure Industry and Health Promotion, National Ilan University, Yilan County 26047, Taiwan;Department of Public Health and Institute of Public Health, Chung Shan Medical University, Taichung City 40201, Taiwan;School of Dentistry, Chung Shan Medical University, Taichung City 40201, Taiwan;Department of Public Health and Institute of Public Health, Chung Shan Medical University, No. 110, Sec. 1, Chien-Kuo N. Road, Taichung City 40201, Taiwan

关键词: Geographical information systems;    Groundwater;    Iron;    Land subsidence;    Age-standardized mortality;    Hepatocellular carcinoma;   

Others  :  1162328
DOI  :  10.1186/1471-2458-13-352

 received in 2012-08-23, accepted in 2013-04-10,  发布年份 2013

【 摘 要 】

Background

Many studies have examined the risk factors for HCC (including hepatitis B virus, hepatitis C virus, aflatoxin, retinol, cigarette smoking, and alcohol consumption). However, data from previous studies on the association between iron exposure, land subsidence, and HCC mortality/incidence were limited, especially in Taiwanese population. We aimed to explore the geographical distribution of HCC mortality rates by township-specific data and to evaluate the association between HCC mortality, land subsidence, and iron levels in groundwater in Taiwan.

Methods

We conducted an ecological study and calculated the HCC age-standardized mortality/incidence rates according to death certificates issued in Taiwan from 1992 to 2001 and incidence data from 1995–1998. The land subsidence dataset before 2005 and iron concentrations in groundwater in 1989 are also involved in this study. Both geographical information systems and Pearson correlation coefficients were used to analyze the relationship between HCC mortality rates, land subsidence, and iron concentrations in groundwater.

Results

Township-specific HCC mortality rates are higher in southwestern coastal townships where serious land subsidence and higher township-specific concentrations of iron in groundwater are present. The Pearson correlation coefficients of iron concentrations in groundwater and ASRs of HCC were 0.286 (P = 0.004) in males and 0.192 (P = 0.058) in females for mortality data; the coefficients were 0.375 (P < 0.001) in males and 0.210 (P = 0.038) in females for incidence data.

Conclusions

This study showed that HCC mortality is clustered in southwestern Taiwan and the association with the iron levels in groundwater in Taiwanese population warrant further investigation.

【 授权许可】

   
2013 Shyu et al.; licensee BioMed Central Ltd.

【 图 表 】

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