DDE blood levels and health of a unique rural population of African American females residing in the Mississippi Delta of the United States of America

Abstract

ABSTRACT The Mississippi Delta has the USA’s highest rate of metabolic disease and experienced heavy DDT use. DDT’s persistent organic pollutant (POP) metabolite, DDE, is still in soil. Because epidemiology associated POP with T2D, we investigated serum DDE of African American females for association with metabolic disease. With informed consent, serum, blood, and demographics were collected during visits to a Belzoni, MS, clinic. Mean serum DDE was 1,649 ng/g lipid, almost twice the highest NHANES value. DDE increased (P = 0.00004) with age. The fasting blood glucose average of 129 mg/dL is diabetic. BMI increased with age (P = 0.0006) until age 50, then declined. Triglycerides increased as DDE rose to 3,000 ng/g lipid (P = 0.04), but then declined in subjects with higher levels (P = 0.03). Because DDE levels were only consistently associated with age, this study does not support a linear association between DDE exposure and metabolic disease.