Exposure to certain arsenic (As) species has been associated with increased cancer risk and a wide range of other health concerns, even at low levels. Here we used urine as a biomarker of As internal dose in a well-characterized cohort to relate diet, demographics and geography to exposure. As speciation in spot urine samples was determined for 89 participants aged ≥ 50 years from the Northern Ireland Cohort for the Longitudinal Study of Ageing (NICOLA), stratified to cover the country. Principal component analysis showed that all As species clustered together, suggesting that arsenobetaine, inorganic As (iAs) and the methylated species monomethylarsonic acid and dimethylarsinic acid forms have a common source. Seafood and alcohol consumption were positively correlated with As species, while dairy products (i.e. milk) and tap water were negatively correlated. Multiple regression analysis showed that diet explained approximately 30% of the variability in urinary iAs concentrations. Geography was not found to be a predictor of As exposure. Dairy consumption was negatively correlated and the best predictor of iAs in urine, explaining 15.9% of the variability. The majority of the variation in As biomarkers was not explained, suggesting the contribution of other sources and other non-predicted variables on As metabolism and elimination.

暴露于某些砷（As）物种与癌症风险增加以及其他许多健康问题有关，即使含量很低也是如此。在这里，我们使用尿液作为特征明确的队列中As内剂量的生物标志物，将饮食，人口统计学和地理与暴露相关。由于确定了来自北爱尔兰老龄化纵向研究队列（NICOLA）的年龄≥50岁的89位年龄≥50岁的参与者的尿液样本形态，分层覆盖了该国。主成分分析表明，所有砷物种聚集在一起，这表明砷甜菜碱，无机砷（iAs）和甲基化物种单甲基methyl酸和二甲基ar酸具有共同的来源。海鲜和酒精消费与砷物种呈正相关，而乳制品（即 牛奶）和自来水呈负相关。多元回归分析表明，饮食可以解释尿中iAs浓度的大约30％的变化。没有发现地理因素是砷暴露的预测因素。乳制品消耗呈负相关，是尿液中iAs的最佳预测因子，可解释15.9％的变异性。As生物标志物的大多数变化没有得到解释，表明其他来源和其他非预测变量对As代谢和消除的贡献。