Division of Laboratory Sciences, National Center for Environmental Health, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, GA, USA.
Division of Laboratory Sciences, National Center for Environmental Health, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, GA, USA.
Environ Int. 2019 Oct;131:105048. doi: 10.1016/j.envint.2019.105048. Epub 2019 Jul 31.
Concerns are heightened from detecting environmentally persistent man-made per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) in drinking water systems around the world. Many PFAS, including perfluorooctane sulfonate (PFOS) and perfluorooctanoate (PFOA), remain in the human body for years. Since 1999-2000, assessment of exposure to PFOS, PFOA, and other select PFAS in the U.S. general population has relied on measuring PFAS serum concentrations in participants of the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES). Manufacturers have replaced select chemistries ("legacy" PFAS) with PFAS with shorter biological half-lives (e.g., GenX, perfluorobutanoate [PFBA]) which may efficiently eliminate in urine. However, knowledge regarding exposure to these compounds is limited. We analyzed 2682 urine samples for 17 legacy and alternative PFAS in 2013-2014 NHANES participants ≥6 years of age. Concentrations of some of these PFAS, measured previously in paired serum samples from the same NHANES participants, suggested universal exposure to PFOS and PFOA, and infrequent or no exposure to two short-chain PFAS, perfluorobutane sulfonate and perfluoroheptanoate. Yet, in urine, PFAS were seldom detected; the frequency of not having detectable concentrations of any of the 17 PFAS was 67.5%. Only two were detected in >1.5% of the population: PFBA (13.3%) and perfluorohexanoate (PFHxA, 22.6%); the 90th percentile urine concentrations were 0.1 μg/L (PFBA), and 0.3 μg/L (PFHxA). These results suggest that exposures to short-chain PFAS are infrequent or at levels below those that would result in detectable concentrations in urine. As such, these findings do not support biomonitoring of short-chain PFAS or fluorinated alternatives in the general population using urine, and highlight the importance of selecting the adequate biomonitoring matrix.
人们对世界各地饮用水系统中存在持久性人为全氟和多氟烷基物质 (PFAS) 的情况表示担忧。许多 PFAS，包括全氟辛烷磺酸 (PFOS) 和全氟辛酸 (PFOA)，在人体内可存在多年。自 1999-2000 年以来，美国一般人群中 PFOS、PFOA 和其他选定 PFAS 的接触评估一直依赖于全美健康和营养检查调查 (NHANES) 参与者的 PFAS 血清浓度测量。制造商用具有更短生物半衰期的 PFAS（例如，GenX、全氟丁烷磺酸 [PFBA]）替代了一些化学物质（“传统”PFAS），这些 PFAS 可能会在尿液中有效地消除。然而，对于这些化合物的暴露情况知之甚少。我们分析了 2013-2014 年 NHANES 参与者尿液中 17 种传统和替代 PFAS 的 2682 个样本。此前在同一 NHANES 参与者的配对血清样本中测量了这些 PFAS 中的一些浓度，结果表明人们普遍接触到 PFOS 和 PFOA，而接触两种短链 PFAS，即全氟丁烷磺酸和全氟庚酸的情况则较为罕见或不存在。然而，在尿液中很少检测到 PFAS；17 种 PFAS 中任何一种都无法检测到的频率为 67.5%。只有两种在>1.5%的人群中被检测到：PFBA（13.3%）和全氟己酸（PFHxA，22.6%）；尿液中 90 百分位数浓度分别为 0.1μg/L（PFBA）和 0.3μg/L（PFHxA）。这些结果表明，人们接触短链 PFAS 的情况较为罕见，或者接触水平低于尿液中可检测到浓度的水平。因此，这些发现不支持使用尿液对一般人群中的短链 PFAS 或氟化替代品进行生物监测，并强调选择合适的生物监测基质的重要性。
