Department of Preventative Medicine, School of Medicine, Kyungpook National University, Daegu, Korea.
PLoS One. 2012;7(1):e30093. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0030093. Epub 2012 Jan 25.
Recently low dose organochlorine (OC) pesticides have been strongly linked to various chronic diseases including diabetes and cardiovascular diseases. Both field and animal studies have suggested a possibility that persistent lipophilic chemicals like OC pesticides can cause vitamin D deficiency, but there have been no human studies of exposure to any chemical as a possible cause of vitamin D deficiency. This study was performed to examine if serum concentrations of OC pesticides were associated with serum concentrations of 25-hydroxyvitamin D (25(OH)D) in the U.S. general population.
METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: Cross-sectional associations of serum OC pesticides with serum 25(OH)D were investigated in 1,275 subjects aged ≥20 in the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES), 2003-2004. We selected 7 OC pesticides detectable in ≥80% of participants. Among the 7 OC pesticides, p,p'-DDT (β = -0.022, P<0.01), p,p'-DDE (β = -0.018, P = 0.04), and β-hexachlorocyclohexane (β = -0.022, P = 0.02) showed significant inverse associations with serum 25(OH)D levels. When study subjects were stratified by age, race, and the presence of various chronic diseases, p,p'-DDT showed consistent inverse associations in all subgroups, although stronger associations tended to be observed among subjects with old age, white race, or chronic diseases.
CONCLUSION/SIGNIFICANCE: The current study suggests that the background exposure to some OC pesticides leads to vitamin D deficiency in human. Considering the importance of vitamin D deficiency in the development of chronic diseases, chemical exposure as a possible cause of vitamin D deficiency should be evaluated in prospective and experimental studies.
最近，低剂量有机氯（OC）农药与包括糖尿病和心血管疾病在内的各种慢性疾病密切相关。田间和动物研究都表明，像 OC 农药这样的持久性亲脂性化学物质可能会导致维生素 D 缺乏，但尚未有研究人类接触任何化学物质作为维生素 D 缺乏的可能原因。本研究旨在检验美国普通人群中 OC 农药的血清浓度是否与血清 25-羟维生素 D（25(OH)D）浓度相关。
方法/主要发现：2003-2004 年，我们在全国健康和营养调查（NHANES）中对 1275 名年龄≥20 岁的受试者进行了血清 OC 农药与血清 25(OH)D 之间的横断面关联研究。我们选择了在≥80%的参与者中可检测到的 7 种 OC 农药。在这 7 种 OC 农药中，p,p'-DDT（β = -0.022，P<0.01）、p,p'-DDE（β = -0.018，P = 0.04）和β-六氯环己烷（β = -0.022，P = 0.02）与血清 25(OH)D 水平呈显著负相关。当按年龄、种族和是否存在各种慢性疾病对研究对象进行分层时，p,p'-DDT 在所有亚组中均表现出一致的负相关，尽管在年龄较大、白种人或患有慢性疾病的人群中，关联更为强烈。
结论/意义：目前的研究表明，一些 OC 农药的背景暴露会导致人类维生素 D 缺乏。考虑到维生素 D 缺乏在慢性疾病发展中的重要性，应在前瞻性和实验性研究中评估化学物质暴露作为维生素 D 缺乏的可能原因。
