Abstract
Background: Rare earth elements (REEs) are emerging contaminants. Previous studies reported the association between REEs and active smoking, but little is known about the effects of passive smoking on this condition. In China, female passive smoking is widespread, particularly in rural areas. Objective: This study aimed to estimate the relationship between REEs accumulation and passive smoking among rural housewives. Methods: We recruited 385 subjects in Shanxi Province of northern China, of whom 117 housewives were exposed to passive smoking, and 268 were not. We analyzed 15 REEs in the hair of housewives with ICP–MS, including lanthanum, cerium, praseodymium, neodymium, samarium, europium, gadolinium, terbium, dysprosium, holmium, erbium, thulium, ytterbium, lutetium, and yttrium. Results: The results indicated higher levels of 14 REEs except for Sm in both the univariate and adjusted models among the housewives exposed to passive smoking. The increasing linear trend of adjusted odds ratios of 15 REEs supported their association. The Bayesian kernel machine regression (BKMR) models showed that 15 REEs had a significant overall effect, and Eu had a single-exposure effect with passive smoking. Conclusion: We concluded that passive smoking might be associated with increased exposure to REEs among rural housewives.
Highlights
Passive smoking has been commonly observed in multinomial categorical distributions pertaining to smoking status [1]
We found that Rare earth elements (REEs) were significantly associated with passive smoking, and their associations were analogous; in particular, Eu might be considered a potential marker of passive smoking in rural housewives
We found that passive smoking was associated with REEs except for Sm and had a cumulative effect with REEs among rural housewives, and hair Eu might be a potential biomarker of secondhand smoke
Summary
Passive smoking has been commonly observed in multinomial categorical distributions pertaining to smoking status [1]. Many studies have shown that women have a lower active smoking rate but a higher risk of exposure to environmental tobacco smoke than men [2,3]. Women are the major recipient of secondhand smoke in China, and nearly 70% of rural women are exposed to passive smoking [3]. A survey in 2013 showed that the rate of passive smoking was 40.4% among women in central and Western China (including Shanxi Province) [5]. The majority of women, those in rural areas, remain unaware of the detrimental health effects of passive smoking. Passive smoking is a risk factor for adverse birth outcomes [9,10]. Some studies have revealed that tobacco smoke has more than 60 kinds of hazardous substances [11], the degree of exposure to some pollutants through passive smoking is still unclear
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