Blackfoot Disease in Taiwan: A 30-Year Follow-up Study

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Abstract
Blackfoot disease is an endemic peripheral vascular disease found among the inhabitants of a limited area on the southwest coast of Tai wan, where artesian well water with a high concentration of arsenic has been used for more than eighty years. The natural history of blackfoot dis ease, based on a prospective study of 1,300 patients, is presented. The overall male/female ratio was 1.5:1. Although the clinical onset was usu ally insidious, it may be quite sudden and almost always begins with numb ness or coldness in one or more ex tremities, usually the feet. Ultimately, rest pain develops and progresses to gangrene.