Metabolic Syndrome Affected by Previous Exposure to Polychlorinated Biphenyls and Dibenzofurans: Yucheng Cohort in Taiwan

Abstract

Objectives: In 1979, approximately 2,000 people who were exposed to polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) and dibenzofurans (PCDFs) due to ingestion of contaminated rice oil in central Taiwan, and were called Yucheng people. In previous studies found Yucheng people had higher mortality rate of the circulatory system. However, this study sought to measure the prevalence of metabolic syndrome of Yucheng people and the association between PCBs/PCDFs exposure and metabolic syndrome. Methods: In 2010, we conducted a health survey for 1,519 exposed people by questionnaire and blood test. There were 603 Yucheng people underwent this health survey. Due to 171 Yucheng people with incomplete data of their health record, 432 Yucheng people were included in this study as exposed group. In addition, we used the health informations of the database from Nutrition and Health Survey in Taiwan among 3,670 subjects. Similarity, there were only 2,004 subjects with complete health information were included in this study as referent group. The logistic regression was used to analysis by controlled potential confounding factors such as sex, age, smoking, alcohol drinking and betel nut chewing. The odds ratio (OR) was calculated as a measure of the association between PCB/PCDF exposure and metabolic syndrome. Results: The overall prevalence of metabolic syndrome by NCEP-ATP III criteria was 33.3% among Yucheng people. We found the adjusted ORs increased significantly, up to 2.7 (95% confidence interval [CI], 2.1-3.5) for metabolic syndrome by NCEP-ATP III and 3.6 (95% CI, 2.7-4.9) for metabolic syndrome by modified BMI ATPIII. Conclusions: Metabolic syndrome was highly prevalent among Yucheng people and there were an association between PCBs/PCDFs exposure and metabolic syndrome.