Objective To explore the characteristics of cardiovascular disease of inhabitants using desalinated seawater as drinking water in a representative area.

Methods The monitoring data of water quality and mortality surveillance from 2008-2012 in an island county of southern China were acquired.40 samples from four seawater desalination stations were collected in July and September each year.The evaluation of drinking-water quality was based on the Standards for Drinking Water Quality (GB 5749-2006).The descriptive epidemiological analysis was used on mortality data.

Results The quality of finished water samples were in accordance with the sanitary standards for drinking water.However, the finished water showed a lower total hardness (average value was 33.3mg/L (CaCO₃)) as compared with those from reservoir water.The standardized mortality rate of the county was lower than that of the national level, and had not changed significantly during the 5 years.Cardiovascular disease (CVD) was the third cause of death.The crude mortality of CVD was 125.23/10⁵, the age-standardized rate was 86.03/10⁵.There was no significant change in the mortality of CVD during the period (cochran-armitage trend test:Z=-0.71, P=0.24).

Conclusions The quality of desalinated seawater is conform to the sanitary standards for drinking water, yet it has lower total hardness.Further cohort studies are needed to track health conditions of inhabitants in those areas and evaluate the safety of desalinated seawater.