Abstract
Human exposure to environmental chemicals as persistent organic pollutants (POPs) is usually assessed considering each pollutant individually, with little attention to concentrations of mixtures in individuals or social groups. Yet, it may be relatively common for humans to have low and high concentrations of numerous POPs. The study objectives were to analyze the number of POPs detected per person at high concentrations in the U.S. population, and the associations between such type of indicators and socioeconomic factors as gender, race / ethnicity, education, and poverty level. From 91 POPs analyzed in serum samples of 4,739 individuals in three subsamples of the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) 2003–2004 (the last period with valid updated individual data for the compounds considered in the present study), we computed the number of POPs whose serum concentrations were above selected cutoff points. POPs included were 13 organochlorine compounds (OCs), 10 polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs), the polybrominated biphenyl (PBB) 153, 38 polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), 17 polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins and dibenzofurans (PCDDs/Fs), and 12 perfluorinated compounds (PFCs). Over 13% of participants had ≥10 of the 37 most detected POPs each at a concentration in the top decile (P90). Over 30% of subjects with total toxic equivalency (TEQ) ≥P75, had ≥10 of 24 POPs not included in TEQ calculations at concentrations ≥P90. Compared to non-Hispanic whites, the adjusted odds ratio of having ≥10 of the 37 POPs at P90 was 9.2 for non-Hispanic blacks and 0.18 for Mexican Americans. Poverty, body mass index, age, and gender were also independently associated with having ≥10 POPs in the top decile. More than one tenth of the US population may have ≥10 POPs each at concentrations in the top decile. Such pattern is nine times more frequent in Non-Hispanic blacks and four times less frequent in Mexican Americans than in non-Hispanic whites.
Highlights
There is abundant evidence worldwide on lifelong human contamination from mixtures of environmental chemicals as persistent organic pollutants (POPs) [1,2,3,4,5,6,7]; yet, the vast majority of studies report each pollutant individually, with little attention to concentrations of mixtures in individual persons or social groups
Reasonable concerns exist about such effects at low concentrations; such issues can be integrated with the fact that it is common for humans to have mixtures of POPs at low and high concentrations [6,8,12]
Over 67% of the 4,739 participants (73.8% of men and 61.1% of women) had one or more of the 37 most prevalent POPs at concentrations equal to or greater than the 90th percentile (P90), while 38.0% had 3 POPs, and over 13% had 10 POPs each in such top decile (Table 1 and Table 2)
Summary
There is abundant evidence worldwide on lifelong human contamination from mixtures of environmental chemicals as persistent organic pollutants (POPs) [1,2,3,4,5,6,7]; yet, the vast majority of studies report each pollutant individually, with little attention to concentrations of mixtures in individual persons or social groups. Efforts to improve exposure assessment must continue: to advance etiologic studies and risk assessment, and to foster knowledge on the characteristics of human chemical contamination itself. Such knowledge is a recognized right of citizens in democratic societies; it is essential to evaluate the impacts of health, industrial, and related policies [1,5,8,10,28,29]. Such relationships have seldom been analyzed integrating several compounds and their concentrations
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