A follow-up study of mortality among the arseniasis patients exposed to indoor combustion of high arsenic coal in Southwest Guizhou Autonomous Prefecture, China

This study was directed to ascertain the mortality of a group of arseniasis patients in an endemic rural township in Southwest China, where the residents were exposed for decades to indoor combustion of high arsenic coal.

All the diagnosed arseniasis cases registered in 1991 were defined as the target population, which were assigned to three symptom subgroups by the severity of dermal lesions. The death cases were surveyed and checked. The follow-up period was 12.5 years. The...