| Drinking Water Contamination and the Incidence of Leukemia and Non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma Perry Cohn, Judith Klotz, Frank Bove, Marian Berkowitz, and
Jerald Fagliano New Jersey Department of Health, Environmental Health Services, Trenton, NJ 08625 USA Abstract
A study of drinking water contamination and leukemia and non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (NHL) incidence (1979-1987) was conducted in a 75-town study area. Comparing incidence in towns in the highest trichloroethylene (TCE) stratum (>5 µg/l) to towns without detectable TCE yielded an age-adjusted rate ratio (RR) for total leukemia among females of 1.43 (95% CI 1.07-1.90) . For females under 20 years old, the RR for acute lymphocytic leukemia was 3.26 (95% CI 1.27-8.15) . Elevated RRs were observed for chronic myelogenous leukemia among females and for chronic lymphocytic leukemia among males and females. NHL incidence among women was also associated with the highest TCE stratum (RR = 1.36 ; 95% CI 1.08-1.70) . For diffuse large cell NHL and non-Burkitt's high-grade NHL among females, the RRs were 1.66 (95% CI 1.07-2.59) and 3.17 (95% CI 1.23-8.18) , respectively, and 1.59 (95% CI 1.04-2.43) and 1.92 (95% CI 0.54-6.81) , respectively, among males. Perchloroethylene (PCE) was associated with incidence of non-Burkitt's high-grade NHL among females, but collinearity with TCE made it difficult to assess relative influences. The results suggest a link between TCE/PCE and leukemia/ NHL incidence. However, the conclusions are limited by potential misclassification of exposure due to lack of individual information on long-term residence, water consumption, and inhalation of volatilized compounds. Key words: drinking water, leukemia, lymphoma, perchloroethylene, trichloroethylene. Environ Health Perspect 102:556-561 (1994) . http://ehpnet1.niehs.nih.gov/docs/1994/102-6-7/cohn.html Address correspondence to P. Cohn, New Jersey Department of Health, Environmental Health Services, CN 360, Trenton, NJ 08625 USA. We thank the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection and Energy/Bureau of Safe Drinking Water and the New Jersey State Cancer Registry, as well as the following persons for their helpful comments on earlier versions of the manuscript: Maureen Hatch, Columbia University ; Charles Lynch, University of Iowa ; Dale Sandler, National Institute of Environmental Health Science ; Daniel Wartenberg, Rutgers University ; and Rebecca Zagraniski, former Assistant Commissioner, New Jersey Department of Health. Received 7 November 1993 ; accepted 31 March 1994
The full version of this article is available for free in HTML format. |
