The association between PFOA, PFOS and serum lipid levels in adolescents

• Published in: Chemosphere (Oxford) Vol. 98; pp. 78 - 83
• Main Authors: Geiger, Sarah Dee, Xiao, Jie, Ducatman, Alan, Frisbee, Stephanie, Innes, Kim, Shankar, Anoop
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Kidlington Elsevier Ltd 01.03.2014; Elsevier
• Subjects: Adolescent; adolescents; Air. Soil. Water. Waste. Feeding; Alkanesulfonic Acids - blood; atherosclerosis; Biological and medical sciences; blood lipids; blood serum; body mass index; Caprylates - blood; Chemical and industrial products toxicology. Toxic occupational diseases; Child; children; Cholesterol, HDL - blood; Cholesterol, LDL - blood; confidence interval; cotinine; Cross-Sectional Studies; Dyslipidemia; Environment. Living conditions; environmental exposure; Environmental Exposure - statistics & numerical data; Female; Fluorocarbons - blood; high density lipoprotein cholesterol; household income; Humans; hyperlipidemia; Lipids; low density lipoprotein cholesterol; Male; Medical sciences; National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey; Nutrition Surveys; odds ratio; Perfluoroalkyl chemicals; perfluorocarbons; Perfluorooctane sulfonate; Perfluorooctanoic acid; PFC; physical activity; Public health. Hygiene; Public health. Hygiene-occupational medicine; Toxicology; triacylglycerols; United States; Various organic compounds; United States; North America; America; Lipids; Perfluorooctane sulfonate; Perfluorooctanoic acid; PFC; Perfluoroalkyl chemicals; Dyslipidemia; Biological fluid; Epidemiology; Blood; Biological monitoring; Persistent organic pollutant; Lipemia; Health and environment; Carboxylic acid; Dyslipemia; Public health; Human; Detergent; Organic perhalocompound; Metabolic diseases; Regression analysis; Anionic surfactant; Adolescent; Emerging pollutant; Fluorine Organic compounds; Blood serum
• ISSN: 0045-6535; 1879-1298; 1879-1298
• DOI: 10.1016/j.chemosphere.2013.10.005

•A cross-sectional study was performed on 815 children from 8years of NHANES data.•PFOA and PFOS were the exposures examined; dyslipidemia was the outcome variable.•PFOA and PFOS were positively associated with high total cholesterol and LDL-C.•Even low PFAS levels were associated with elevated serum lipid levels in children. Dyslipidemia in children is associated with accelerated atherosclerosis and earlier cardiovascular disease development. Environmental exposure to perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) and perfluorooctane sulfonate (PFOS) have been shown to be associated with dyslipidemia in adults. However, there are few general population studies examining this association in children or adolescents. In this context, we examined the association between serum PFOA and PFOS levels and dyslipidemia in a nationally representative sample of US adolescents. A cross-sectional study was performed on 815 participants ⩽18years of age from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey 1999–2008. The main outcome was dyslipidemia, defined as total cholesterol >170mg/dL, low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) >110mg/dL, high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) <40mg/dL or triglycerides >150mg/dL. We found that serum PFOA and PFOS were positively associated with high total cholesterol and LDL-C, independent of age, sex, race-ethnicity, body mass index, annual household income, physical activity and serum cotinine levels. Compared to subjects in quartile 1 (referent), the multivariable-adjusted odds ratio (95% confidence interval) for high total cholesterol among children in quartile 4 was 1.16 (1.05–2.12) for PFOA and 1.53 (1.11–1.64) for PFOS. PFOA and PFOS were not significantly associated with abnormal HDL-C and triglyceride levels. Our findings indicate that serum PFOA and PFOS are significantly associated with dyslipidemia in adolescents, even at the lower “background” exposure levels of the US general population.