In Brief
“What Else Could It Be?” Arsenic in Drinking Water May Lead to Diabetes Type 2…Equal to Obesity Risk
Headline News
By Cheree Cleghorn, Editor
Do you know what your public health officials are doing for you today?
Thought not.
Almost no one does.
Public health researchers are your doctors whom you never see.
They are the ones who look at populations, not just a patient.
They are the ones seeking patterns in illness, be it infectious disease, for instance, or, as in this case, for more information about an identified cause of a health problem or additional reasons why there are changes—here, why are there spikes in a life-threatening chronic disease other than the obvious?
What else could it be? That is one of the most important questions in medicine. In terms of millions of patients, the causes of their problems often are clear, easy even.
However, when the causes are not clear, a doctor’s job is to ask, and answer, this important question: “What else could it be?”
This report is about a possible, additional cause of diabetes, Type 2, identified by researchers at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.
BALTIMORE, Md.—-”Millions of Americans may be at an increased risk for type 2 diabetes because of arsenic in their drinking water, researchers here said.
“Data from nearly 800 participants in the CDC’s National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) indicated that urine levels of arsenic — a measure of environmental exposure to the chemical — were significantly associated with the prevalence of type 2 diabetes, found Ana Navas-Acien, M.D., Ph.D., of Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, and colleagues.
“The researchers calculated an adjusted odds ratio of 3.58 (95% CI 1.18 to 10.83) for type 2 diabetes for participants in the top versus bottom quintile of urinary arsenic levels, they reported in the Aug. 20 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association. The strength of the association was comparable to that of major well-known risk factors such as obesity, said Dr. Navas-Acien.” (Emphasis added)
Source: Medpage Today, August 19, 2008
Citation Source: Journal of the American Medical Association, August 19, 2008
