A study of telomere length, arsenic exposure, and arsenic toxicity in a Bangladeshi cohort

Background: Chronic arsenic exposure is associated with increased risk for arsenical skin lesions, cancer, and other adverse health outcomes. One potential mechanism of arsenic toxicity is telomere dysfunction. However, prior epidemiological studies of arsenic exposure, telomere length (TL), and skin lesion are small and cross‐sectional. We investigated the associations between arsenic exposure and TL and between baseline TL and incident skin lesion risk among individuals participating in the Health Effects of Arsenic Longitudinal Study in Bangladesh (2000–2009). Methods: Quantitative PCR was used to measure the average TL of peripheral blood DNA collected at baseline. The association between baseline arsenic exposure (well water and urine) and TL was estimated in a randomly‐selected subcohort (n = 1469). A nested case‐control study (466…