The European Journal of Public Health Advance Access originally published online on July 28, 2005
The European Journal of Public Health 2005 15(6):652-656; doi:10.1093/eurpub/cki027
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Cancer |
The association between drinking water source and colorectal cancer incidence in Jiashan County of China: a prospective cohort study
Kun Chen1, Weiping Yu1, Xinyan Ma2, Kaiyan Yao1 and Qinting Jiang3
1 Department of Epidemiology, Zhejiang University School of Medicine, Hangzhou, People's Republic of China
2 Cancer Institute of Jiashan-county, 314100 Jiashan Zhejiang, People's Republic of China
3 Department of Biology Chemistry, Hong Kong City University, Hong Kong
Correspondence: Prof. Kun Chen, Department of Epidemiology, Zhejiang University School of Medicine, 353 Yan'an road, Hangzhou Zhejiang 310031, People's Republic of China, tel: +86 571 8721 7190, fax: +86 571 8721 7184, e-mail: ck{at}zjuem.zju.edu.cn
Background: The pollution of drinking water, e.g. from rivers and pools, has long been recognized to be associated with an increased risk for colorectal cancer (CRC), but there are few direct prospective cohort studies related to person-years on the relative risks of different sources of drinking water for CRC, hence the reason for our study. Methods: Based on a screening for CRC among residents aged 30 years and over in Jiashan County, Zhejiang Province, China, a total of 64,115 residents were classified into five cohorts by their source of drinking water and followed-up from 1st May 1990 to 1st January 2001. Person-years was calculated for every cohort member and Poisson regression was used to control potential confounding variables including demographic variables and smoking history, and to attain crude and adjusted relative risks based on person-years. Results: A trend was seen toward increasing incidence rates for CRC from the drinking water sources of municipal, river, ditch, mixed water to well in turn as shown by relative risk rates of 29.61, 32.67, 33.45, 40.87 and 58.67 per 100,000 inhabitants. Only the role in risk of well water was significantly different from municipal water (P < 0.05). After the confounding variables were adjusted, the significant risk from well water could be seen for colon cancer, rectal cancer as well as CRC. The relative risks were 1.741 [95% confidence interval (CI) 1.001–3.029], 2.228 (95% CI 1.432–3.466) and 2.022 (95% CI 1.432–2.854), respectively. Conclusion: Drinking well water over a long period was identified as playing a role in the risk for CRC, especially for rectal cancer.
Keywords: cohort study, colorectal cancer, drinking water source, Poisson regression
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