Using disability-adjusted life years to estimate the cancer risks of low-level arsenic in drinking water

Abstract Recent studies have shown that long-term exposure to low-level arsenic (<10 μg/L) may cause human health problems. However, the induced cancer risks and differences among multisite cancers have not been well-understood. In this study, the concentrations of low-level arsenic in drinking water in XP city, Northwest China were investigated. A health risk assessment was carried out for different age groups and exposure pathways based on Monte Carlo simulations and disability-adjusted life years (DALYs). The measured arsenic levels were in the range of 7.61–9.25 μg/L with a mean of 8.23 μg/L. For the public, the average total lifetime cancer risk was 3.87 × 10−4, and the total DALYs estimation for all age groups was 20.58 person-year. The average individual DALYs lost was 3.35 × 10−5 per person-year (ppy), which was 33.5 times the reference value (1.00 × 10−6 ppy). The mortality burden had a considerably larger contribution (97.31%) to the total disease burden, and the 60–65-year age group exhibited the largest DALYs lost. Skin cancer exhibited the largest burden of 2.15 × 10−5 ppy, followed by lung cancer (1.20 × 10−5 ppy). This study might be useful for potential strategies of risk control and management in XP drinking water.