Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14279/19443
Title: Trihalomethanes in drinking water and bladder cancer burden in the European Union
Authors: Evlampidou, Iro 
Font-Ribera, Laia 
Rojas-Rueda, David 
Gracia-Lavedan, Esther 
Costet, Nathalie 
Pearce, Neil 
Vineis, Paolo 
Jaakkola, J. J.K. 
Delloye, Francis 
Makris, Konstantinos C. 
Stephanou, Euripides G. 
Kargaki, Sophia 
Kožíšek, František 
Sigsgaard, Torben 
Hansen, Birgitte 
Schullehner, Jörg 
Nahkur, Ramon 
Galey, Catherine 
Zwiener, Christian 
Vargha, Márta 
Righi, Elena 
Aggazzotti, Gabriella 
Kalnina, Gunda 
Gražulevičieně, Regina 
Polańska, Kinga 
Gubkova, Dasa 
Major Field of Science: Medical and Health Sciences
Field Category: Health Sciences
Keywords: Chlorine;Chlorine dioxide;Drinking water;Hypochlorite;Trihalomethane;Drinking water
Issue Date: Jan-2020
Source: Environmental Health Perspectives, 2020, vol. 128, no. 1, articl. no. 017001
Volume: 128
Issue: 1
Journal: Environmental Health Perspectives 
URI: https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14279/19443
ISSN: 15529924
DOI: 10.1289/EHP4495
Rights: Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International
Type: Article
Affiliation : ISGlobal 
Universitat Pompeu Fabra 
CIBER Epidemiología y Salud Pública (CIBERESP) 
Hospital Del Mar Research Institute (IMIM) 
Université de Rennes 
London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine 
Imperial College London 
University of Oulu 
Service Public de Wallonie 
Cyprus University of Technology 
University of Crete 
The Cyprus Institute 
National Institute of Public Health Prague 
Aarhus University 
Geological Survey of Denmark and Greenland 
Estonian Ministry of Social Affairs 
Santé Publique France 
Eberhard Karls University Tübingen 
National Public Health Institute 
University of Modena and Reggio Emilia 
Ministry of Health of the Republic Latvia 
Vytautas Magnus University 
Nofer Institute of Occupational Medicine in Łódź 
Public Health Authority of the Slovak Republic 
National Institute of Public Health Ljubljana 
Cranfield University 
Funding: BACKGROUND: Trihalomethanes (THMs) are widespread disinfection by-products (DBPs) in drinking water, and long-term exposure has been consistently associated with increased bladder cancer risk. OBJECTIVE: We assessed THM levels in drinking water in the European Union as a marker of DBP exposure and estimated the attributable burden of bladder cancer. METHODS: We collected recent annual mean THM levels in municipal drinking water in 28 European countries (EU28) from routine monitoring records. We estimated a linear exposure–response function for average residential THM levels and bladder cancer by pooling data from studies included in the largest international pooled analysis published to date in order to estimate odds ratios (ORs) for bladder cancer associated with the mean THM level in each country (relative to no exposure), population-attributable fraction (PAF), and number of attributable bladder cancer cases in different scenarios using incidence rates and population from the Global Burden of Disease study of 2016. RESULTS: We obtained 2005–2018 THM data from EU26, covering 75% of the population. Data coverage and accuracy were heterogeneous among countries. The estimated population-weighted mean THM level was 11:7 μg/L [standard deviation (SD) of 11.2]. The estimated bladder cancer PAF was 4.9% [95% confidence interval (CI): 2.5, 7.1] overall (range: 0–23%), accounting for 6,561 (95% CI: 3,389, 9,537) bladder cancer cases per year. Denmark and the Netherlands had the lowest PAF (0.0% each), while Cyprus (23.2%), Malta (17.9%), and Ireland (17.2%) had the highest among EU26. In the scenario where no country would exceed the current EU mean, 2,868 (95% CI: 1,522, 4,060; 43%) annual attributable bladder cancer cases could potentially be avoided. DISCUSSION: Efforts have been made to reduce THM levels in the European Union. However, assuming a causal association, current levels in certain countries still could lead to a considerable burden of bladder cancer that could potentially be avoided by optimizing water treatment, disinfection, and distribution practices, among other possible measures.
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed
Appears in Collections:Άρθρα/Articles

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