State Environmental Protection Key Laboratory of Environmental Pollution Health Risk Assessment, South China Institute of Environmental Sciences, Ministry of Ecology and Environment, Guangzhou, 510655, China.
West Center, Guangzhou Institute of Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Chongqing, 400714, China.
Environ Res. 2024 Jun 1;250:118544. doi: 10.1016/j.envres.2024.118544. Epub 2024 Feb 24.
Wastewater-based epidemiology (WBE) is amply used for estimating human consumption of chemicals, yet information on regional variation of pharmaceuticals and their environmental fate are scarce. Thus, this study aims to estimate the consumption of three cardiovascular, four non-steroidal anti-inflammatory pharmaceuticals (NSAIDs), and four psychoactive pharmaceuticals between urban and suburban catchments in China by WBE, and to explore their removal efficiencies and ecological risks. Eleven analytes were detected in both influent and effluent samples. The estimated consumptions ranged from <MDL-1510 mg/day/1000 inh for cardiovascular pharmaceuticals, 0.140-1980 mg/day/1000 inh for anti-inflammatory pharmaceuticals, and 0.135-177 mg/day/1000 inh for psychoactive pharmaceuticals, respectively. Consumption of most psychoactive pharmaceuticals were higher in urban than in suburban catchments, while higher consumption of carbamazepine was observed in suburban than in urban areas. Furthermore, PCA analysis revealed evident variation among sampling locations in China. Significantly positive correlation (p < 0.05, r = 0.617) was found between Log Kow and removal efficiencies of the analytes, indicating physicochemical property dependent removal in WWTPs. Ecological risk assessment exhibited moderate risks for metoprolol and venlafaxine to aquatic environment. Our study discloses significant regional variation in pharmaceutical consumption in China by WBE, which could provide basis for the establishment of well-calibrated environmental and public health policies.
基于污水的流行病学（WBE）广泛用于估计人类对化学物质的消费，但有关药物的地域差异及其环境归宿的信息却很少。因此，本研究旨在通过 WBE 来估计中国城市和郊区流域中三种心血管药物、四种非甾体抗炎药和四种精神类药物的消费情况，并探讨它们的去除效率和生态风险。在进水和出水样品中均检测到了 11 种分析物。估计的消耗量范围为心血管药物<MDL-1510mg/天/1000inh，抗炎药物 0.140-1980mg/天/1000inh，精神类药物 0.135-177mg/天/1000inh。大多数精神类药物的消耗量在城市地区高于郊区，而卡马西平的消耗量在郊区高于城市。此外，PCA 分析显示，中国各采样点之间存在明显差异。分析物的去除效率与 Log Kow 之间存在显著正相关（p<0.05，r=0.617），表明 WWTP 中存在依赖于理化性质的去除。生态风险评估显示，对于水生环境，美托洛尔和文拉法辛具有中度风险。本研究通过 WBE 揭示了中国药物消费的显著地域差异，为制定经过良好校准的环境和公共卫生政策提供了依据。
