SynthesisEnvironmental health perspectives2025
Exposure to Drinking Water Trihalomethanes and Risk of Cancer: A Systematic Review of the Epidemiologic Evidence and Dose-Response Meta-Analysis.
Synthesis in Environmental health perspectives, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 11 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
11 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- Unsafe drinking water and human health: A global umbrella review of disease outcomes, intervention effectiveness, and policy implications.Cell reports. Medicine · 2026Pooled it
- Blood Trihalomethane Concentrations and Gestational Diabetes Mellitus: A Nationwide Cross-Sectional Study.Current medical science · 2026Article
- Article
- Disinfection Byproducts and Inorganic Contaminants in the U.S. Correctional Facility Public Water Systems.Environmental justice (Print) · 2026Article
- Prostate Cancer in the MENA Region: Attributable Burden of Behavioral and Environmental Exposures.Toxics · 2026Article
- Granular Activated Carbon Filtration as a Lead Control Strategy.ACS ES&T water · 2026Article
- Urinary bladder cancer needs more attention - recommendations for health care professionals and politicians in the European Union.Nature reviews. Urology · 2026Review
- Article
- Chlorination by-products in drinking water - association with bladder cancer risk.Nature reviews. Urology · 2025Article
- Serum trihalomethanes and cognitive decline: investigating environmental risk factors for neurodegenerative diseases.Frontiers in public health · 2025Article
- Invited Perspective: Drinking Water Disinfection By-Products and Cancer-A Historical Perspective.Environmental health perspectives · 2025Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
5 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundChlorination is a widespread method for drinking water disinfection that has the drawback of introducing potentially carcinogenic chemical by-products to drinking water.
objectiveWe systematically evaluated the epidemiologic evidence of exposure to trihalomethane (THM) disinfection by-products and risk of cancer.
methodsWe conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis of epidemiologic studies that assessed the association of exposure to residential concentrations of THMs with risk of cancer in adults. A protocol was preregistered in PROSPERO (CRD42023435491). PubMed, Embase, Web of Science, and Cochrane were searched for publications up to April 2024. Study selection and risk of bias appraisal using the National Toxicology Program Office of Health Assessment and Translation (NTP OHAT) tool was done in duplicate. Summary risk estimates were assessed using random effects meta-analysis and one-stage dose-response meta-analysis.
resultsThe literature search resulted in 2,022 records, of which 29 publications assessing 14 different cancers were eligible for inclusion. Summary relative risks (RRs) were estimated for bladder cancer and colorectal cancer based on 5,860 and 9,262 cases and 84,371 and 90,272 participants, respectively. The summary RR of bladder cancer for the highest exposed compared with the lowest was 1.33 (95% CI: 1.04, 1.71), and in the dose-response analysis, RRs were statistically significant above THM concentrations of
conclusionAccording to the World Cancer Research Fund criteria, we found limited-suggestive evidence that THM in drinking water increases the risk of bladder and colorectal cancer at levels below current regulatory limits in the US and EU, indicating that these fail to protect against cancer in the general population. https://doi.org/10.1289/EHP14505.
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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.