National Research Centre for the Working Environment, Lersø Parkallé 105, 2100, Copenhagen Ø, Denmark.
Department of the Built Environment, Aalborg University, A.C. Meyers Vænge 15, 2400, Copenhagen SV, Denmark.
Int J Hyg Environ Health. 2023 Jan;247:114056. doi: 10.1016/j.ijheh.2022.114056. Epub 2022 Nov 14.
Applications of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) in buildings and their persistence in indoor environments have led to cases of current and highly elevated exposure in humans, despite the global cease of production decades ago. Personal exposure to PCBs was assessed among residents in a social housing estate in Denmark containing both contaminated (n = 67) and non-contaminated (n = 23) apartments. Samples and estimated daily intakes (EDIs) were assessed for 15 PCB congeners, and body burden, which was limited by the dietary data availability, was compared across 7 indicator PCBs, with its sum (PCB) often applied in European regulation of PCBs. Median PCB EDI across measured pathways for exposed residents was 101 ng· (kg bodyweight)· day, with the majority of exposure (60%) coming from inhalation of contaminated indoor air. Calculated from both PCBs measured in indoor air and on hand wipes, dermal absorption estimates showed comparable results and served as a secondary exposure pathway, accounting for 35% of personal exposure and considering selected assumptions and sources of physical-chemical parameters. Estimates revealed that diet was the primary PCB source among the reference group, accounting for over 75% of the PCB EDI across exposure routes. When evaluating overall EDIs across the two study groups and including dietary estimates, PCB exposure among exposed residents was around 10 times higher than the reference group. Solely within the exposed population, pathway-specific body burdens were calculated to account for exposure across years of residence in contaminated apartments, where lower chlorinated PCBs were dominant in indoor air. Among these dominant congeners, estimated body burdens of PCB-28 and -52 were significantly correlated with measured serum (r = 0.49, 0.45; p < 0.001). This study demonstrates that inhalation and dermal absorption serve as dominant exposure pathways for residents of apartments contaminated with predominantly lower chlorinated PCBs and suggest that predictions of body burden from indoor environment measurements may be comparable to measured serum PCBs.
多氯联苯 (PCBs) 在建筑物中的应用及其在室内环境中的持久性导致了人类当前和高度暴露的情况，尽管几十年前全球已停止生产。在丹麦的一个社会住房区内，对含有污染（n=67）和非污染（n=23）公寓的居民进行了个人 PCB 暴露评估。评估了 15 种 PCB 同系物的样本和估计日摄入量（EDI），并比较了 7 种指示性 PCB 的身体负荷，由于饮食数据的可用性有限，其总和（PCB）常用于欧洲对 PCB 的监管。暴露居民通过测量途径的中位数 PCB EDI 为 101ng·（kg 体重）·天，其中大部分暴露（60%）来自污染室内空气的吸入。从室内空气中和手上擦拭物中测量的 PCB 计算得出，皮肤吸收估计值显示出类似的结果，作为次要暴露途径，占个人暴露的 35%，并考虑了一些假设和物理化学参数的来源。研究结果表明，饮食是参考组中 PCB 的主要来源，占暴露途径的 PCB EDI 的 75%以上。在评估两个研究组的总体 EDI 并包括饮食估计值时，暴露居民的 PCB 暴露水平是参考组的 10 倍左右。仅在暴露人群中，计算了特定途径的身体负荷，以说明在污染公寓居住多年的暴露情况，其中低氯化 PCBs 是室内空气中的主要成分。在这些主要同系物中，PCB-28 和 -52 的估计体负荷与测量的血清呈显著相关（r=0.49，0.45；p<0.001）。本研究表明，吸入和皮肤吸收是受主要含有低氯化 PCBs 污染的公寓居民的主要暴露途径，并表明从室内环境测量预测身体负荷可能与测量的血清 PCBs 相当。
