The Relationship Between Aterosclerotic Cardiovascular Diseases and Drinking Water Hardness Level in Çanakkale Province

Aim: Cardiovascular diseases (CVH) still maintain their leadership among causes of death. Many studies have been carried out on risk factors and the relationship of disease and their proven recommendations have entered current guidelines. However, it is seen that there are opposing interpretations in the literature regarding the relationship between water hardness and CVH and definite conclusions are still not reached. In Çanakkale province center, drinking water needs are met from two different sources with different hardness degrees. This may help to better understand the relationship between water hardness level and CVH. The study was designed for this purpose. Materials and Methods: Patients with a diagnosis of atherosclerosis (coronary artery, carotid artery and peripheral artery disease), who applied to Çanakkale Onsekiz Mart University Training and Practice Hospital between 2015 and 2020, were retrospectively identified, and atherosclerotic group was formed. Corresponding to this group, a non-atherosclerotic (non-AS) group was formed by observing “propensity score matching” according to age, gender, arterial hypertension (HT), diabetes mellitus (DM), and presence of dyslipidemia (DL). The pH, hardness, calcium, magnesium values of the last five years were determined from the city center drinking water analyses taken from local governments and were associated with the address. Using this information, cases consuming water of different hardness were determined. Statistically, the significance of the water hardness values between the two groups was evaluated. Results: There was no significant difference in age, gender, arterial HT, DM, DL between the groups (p>0.05), and very high hardness water consumption was found significantly higher in the non-AS group (p