Cancer Epidemiology Biomarkers & Prevention, Vol 5, Issue 10 849-852, Copyright © 1996 by American Association for Cancer Research

ARTICLES

Toenail samples as an indicator of drinking water arsenic exposure

MR Karagas, JS Morris, JE Weiss, V Spate, C Baskett and ER Greenberg
Department of Community and Family Medicine, Dartmouth Medical School, Hanover, New Hampshire 03755-3861, USA.

We conducted a pilot study to assess the utility of toenail arsenic concentrations as an indicator of ingestion of arsenic-containing water. We enrolled 21 individuals whose household drinking water supply was provided by a private well, including 10 individuals who lived in areas of New Hampshire where elevated water levels of arsenic had been reported previously. Participants were interviewed regarding use of their private (unregulated) wells for drinking and cooking, and each provided a sample of water and toenail clippings. All specimens were analyzed using instrumental neutron activation analysis with a sensitivity of approximately 0.001 parts per million (ppm). Trace concentrations of arsenic were detected in 15 of the 21 well water samples and in all toenail clipping samples. Among the 10 individuals who lived in areas with reportedly high arsenic levels in the water supply, the geometric mean toenail concentration was 0.39 ppm (SE, 0.12 ppm); among the other 11 persons, the geometric mean was 0.14 ppm (SE, 0.02 ppm; P = 0.005 for the difference between the two means). The overall Spearman correlation between toenail and well water arsenic was 0.67 (P = 0.009), and among those with detectable well water levels of arsenic, the Spearman correlation was 0.83 (P = 0.0001). Based on the regression analysis of those who had detectable water levels of arsenic, a 10-fold increase in well water concentrations of arsenic was reflected by about a 2-fold increase in toenail concentrations. These results indicate that concentrations of arsenic in toenails reflect use of arsenic-containing drinking water.

This article has been cited by other articles:

				D Otto, Y Xia, Y Li, K Wu, L He, J Telech, H Hundell, J Prah, J Mumford, and T Wade Neurosensory effects of chronic human exposure to arsenic associated with body burden and environmental measures Human and Experimental Toxicology, March 1, 2007; 26(3): 169 - 177. [Abstract] [PDF]

				M. L. Kile, E. A. Houseman, E. Rodrigues, T. J. Smith, Q. Quamruzzaman, M. Rahman, G. Mahiuddin, L. Su, and D. C. Christiani Toenail Arsenic Concentrations, GSTT1 Gene Polymorphisms, and Arsenic Exposure from Drinking Water Cancer Epidemiol. Biomarkers Prev., October 1, 2005; 14(10): 2419 - 2426. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				M. R. Karagas, T. A. Stukel, J. S. Morris, T. D. Tosteson, J. E. Weiss, S. K. Spencer, and E. R. Greenberg Skin Cancer Risk in Relation to Toenail Arsenic Concentrations in a US Population-based Case-Control Study Am. J. Epidemiol., March 15, 2001; 153(6): 559 - 565. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				M. R. Karagas, T. D. Tosteson, J. Blum, B. Klaue, J. E. Weiss, V. Stannard, V. Spate, and J. S. Morris Measurement of Low Levels of Arsenic Exposure: A Comparison of Water and Toenail Concentrations Am. J. Epidemiol., July 1, 2000; 152(1): 84 - 90. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]