High arsenic level in urine may be associated with a higher risk of developing type 2 diabetes, according to the researchers’ findings published in the August 20 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association.

Researchers, led by Ana Navas-Acien, MD, PhD, of the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Health, studied 788 adults who underwent urine test for arsenic exposure in the 2003-2004 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. Participants with type 2 diabetes had a 26% higher level of total arsenic in their urine than those without the disease.

Researchers found that participants in the top one-fifth of total urine arsenic levels (16.5 micrograms per liter) had 3.6 times the probability of having type 2 diabetes as those in the lowest one-fifth (3 micrograms per liter).

“This suggests that arsenic would play a role in the development of diabetes,” said lead researcher Dr. Ana Navas-Acien. “But there clearly needs to be additional research conducted because our study has certain limitations. We are conducting those studies now, but that's going to take a few years.”

“This is a good base for future research but it’s a small sample size and doesn’t look at dose-response,” added Rajat Sethi, assistant professor of pharmaceutical sciences with the Texas A&M Health Science Center’s Irma Lerma Rangel College of Pharmacy, in Kingsville. “A lot of research still needs to be done.”