Leukemia risk from chlorination seen mixed
Key points
- Long-term exposure to the by-products of chlorination in drinking water appears to raise the risk of one type of leukemia - chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) - but decrease the risk of chronic lymphoid leukemia (CLL) and other types, new research shows.
- The findings, which appear in the American Journal of Epidemiology, are based on a population-based study comparing 686 leukemia cases and 3420 similar but unaffected "controls" for whom water quality information was available for 30 years or longer.
- Long-term exposure to the chlorination by-product triahalomethane at levels greater than 40 micrograms per liter raised the risk of CML by 72 percent, Dr.
- By contrast, such long-term exposure cut the risk of CLL by 40 percent, the team found.
Long-term exposure to the by-products of chlorination in drinking water appears to raise the risk of one type of leukemia - chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) - but decrease the risk of chronic lymphoid leukemia (CLL) and other types, new research shows.
The findings, which appear in the American Journal of Epidemiology, are based on a population-based study comparing 686 leukemia cases and 3420 similar but unaffected "controls" for whom water quality information was available for 30 years or longer. The subjects were Canadian residents between 20 and 74 years of age.
Long-term exposure to the chlorination by-product triahalomethane at levels greater than 40 micrograms per liter raised the risk of CML by 72 percent, Dr. Patrick Levallois, from Institut National de Sante Publique in Sainte-Foy, Canada, and colleagues note.
By contrast, such long-term exposure cut the risk of CLL by 40 percent, the team found.
Further analysis showed a decreased risk of several leukemia subtypes as the duration of chlorination by-product exposure increased, the report indicates.
"Total trihalomethanes and bromodichloromethane may be particularly important in the etiology of CML, but the possible protective effect of chlorination disinfection by-products on CLL remains unclear," the authors conclude. "Random error or selection bias could explain these results," they say.
SOURCE: American Journal of Epidemiology, January 15, 2006.
Written and revised by
David Cohen, M.D.
Our doctors write and review articles for accuracy and keep them up to date.
health.am provides general information, not medical advice. Always consult a qualified health professional about your own health.
Explore health topics
More in this topic
Cancer →
NewsNearly half of testicular cancer risk comes from inherited genetic faults
Almost half of the risk of developing testicular cancer comes from the DNA passed down from our parents, a new study reports. The research suggests genetic inheritance is much more important in testicular cancer than in…
10 September 2015
NewsMen in China face increasing tobacco-related cancer risks
In China, smoking now causes nearly a quarter of all cancers in adult males. The finding comes from a large study published early online in CANCER, a peer-reviewed journal of the American Cancer Society, as part of a…
3 September 2015
NewsExercise during teen years linked to lowered risk of cancer death later
Women who exercised during their teen years were less likely to die from cancer and all other causes during middle-age and later in life, according to a new study by investigators at Vanderbilt University Medical Center…
