Association between Changing Mortality of Digestive Tract Cancers and Water Pollution: A Case Study in the Huai River Basin, China

Hongyan Ren, Xia Wan, Fei Yang, Xiaoming Shi, Jianwei Xu, Dafang Zhuang and Gonghuan Yang
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Hongyan Ren: State Key Laboratory of Resources and Environmental Information System, Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, China
Xia Wan: Institute of Basic Medical Sciences, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences, 5 Dong Dan San Tiao, Beijing 100005, China
Fei Yang: State Key Laboratory of Resources and Environmental Information System, Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, China
Xiaoming Shi: Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Beijing 102206, China
Jianwei Xu: Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Beijing 102206, China
Dafang Zhuang: State Key Laboratory of Resources and Environmental Information System, Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, China
Gonghuan Yang: Institute of Basic Medical Sciences, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences, 5 Dong Dan San Tiao, Beijing 100005, China

IJERPH, 2014, vol. 12, issue 1, 1-13

Abstract: The relationship between the ever-increasing cancer mortality and water pollution is an important public concern in China. This study aimed to explore the association between serious water pollution and increasing digestive cancer mortality in the Huai River Basin (HRB) in China. A series of frequency of serious pollution (FSP) indices including water quality grade (FSP WQG ), biochemical oxygen demand (FSP BOD ), chemical oxygen demand (FSP COD ), and ammonia nitrogen (FSP AN ) were used to characterize the surface water quality between 1997 and 2006. Data on the county-level changing mortality (CM) due to digestive tract cancers between 1975 and 2006 were collected for 14 counties in the study area. Most of investigated counties (eight) with high FSP WQG (>50%) distributed in the northern region of the HRB and had larger CMs of digestive tract cancers. In addition to their similar spatial distribution, significant correlations between FSP indices and CMs were observed by controlling for drinking water safety (DWS), gross domestic product (GDP), and population (POP). Furthermore, the above-mentioned partial correlations were clearly increased when only controlling for GDP and POP. Our study indicated that county-level variations of digestive cancer mortality are remarkably associated with water pollution, and suggested that continuous measures for improving surface water quality and DWS and hygienic interventions should be effectively implemented by local governments.

Keywords: increasing mortality; digestive tract cancers; water pollution; drinking water safety; Huai River Basin (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2014
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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