Journal of Environmental Health and Sustainable Development

en The Relationship between Exposure to Arsenic in Drinking Water and the Prevalence of Diabetes Mellitus in Two Urban Populations in the Southeastern Areas of Iran Environmental Health, Sciences, and Engineering Original articles <div style="text-align: justify;">Introduction: Chronic exposure to Arsenic (As) can increase the risk of diabetes mellitus. This study aims to determine the relationship between exposure to the As by drinking water and the prevalence of diabetes mellitus in two urban populations of Rafsanjan and Kashkuyeh, Iran, in 2020. Materials and Methods: In this research, 120 participants from Rafsanjan and Kashkuyeh were recruited and divided into four groups. The first two groups have lived in Rafsanjan and Kashkuyeh for the past 10 years, and the second two groups have lived in these two cities for less than a year. Individuals with two episodes of fasting blood glucose (FBG) ≥ 126 mg/dl were considered to have diabetes. Results: As was found in high levels in all samples (10 samples) in Rafsanjan and 55% of samples (10 samples) in Kashkuyeh. The prevalence of diabetes was significantly higher in people with a residence duration of more than 10 years (p = 0.038). The analysis of Multiple Logistic Regression model demonstrated that the chance of developing diabetes in people who had lived in either city for more than 10 years was almost 5.7 times higher than others (OR = 5.79; P = 0.003). Also, the chance of developing diabetes was 91% higher in people who had lived in Rafsanjan compared with Kashkuyeh, and 91% higher in men than in women (OR = 1.915; P = 0.215). Conclusion: Chronic exposure (≥ 10 years) to high levels of As by drinking water can increase the risk of diabetes, and future research is needed in this regard.</div> Arsenic, Diabetes Mellitus, Drinking Water, Health. 1915 1922 http://jehsd.ssu.ac.ir/browse.php?a_code=A-10-139-7&slc_lang=en&sid=1 Mohammad Kahnooji Kahnooji54@gmail.com 0000-0002-0431-1178 No Biology Department, Payame Noor University, Tehran, Iran. Maryam Karimifar m.karimifard@rums.ac.ir 0000-0003-1077-6219 No Non-Communicable Diseases Research Center, Rafsanjan University of Medical Sciences, Rafsanjan, Iran. Mahdieh Azin mahdieh.azin@gmail.com 0000-0003-4111-7806 No Department of Physiology and Pharmacology, School of Medicine, Physiology-Pharmacology Research Center, Research Institute on Basic Sciences, Rafsanjan University of Medical Sciences, Rafsanjan, Iran. Hassan Ahmadinia h.ahmadnia@gmail.com 0000-0002-7010-1726 No Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, School of Health, Occupational Environment Research Center, Rafsanjan University of Medical Sciences, Rafsanjan, Iran. Seyed Ahmad Razavi Razavisa@yahoo.com 0000-0002-3460-8722 No Ali-Ibn Abi-Talib Hospital, Clinical Research Development Unit, Rafsanjan University of Medical Sciences, Rafsanjan, Iran. Ali Mohammad Madahian m.madahian@rums.ac.ir 0000-0002-3460-8722 Yes Ali-Ibn Abi-Talib Hospital, Clinical Research Development Unit, Rafsanjan University of Medical Sciences, Rafsanjan, Iran. Hadi Eslami Hadieslami1986@yahoo.com 0000-0001-5137-4764 No Department of Environmental Health Engineering, School of Health, Occupational Safety and Health Research Center, NICICO, World Safety Organization and Rafsanjan University of Medical Sciences, Rafsanjan, Iran.