REQUIMTE/LAQV, ISEP, Polytechnic of Porto, Rua Dr. António Bernardino de Almeida 431, 4249-015 Porto, Portugal.
Instituto Politécnico de Bragança, UICISA: E, Unidade de Investigação em Ciências da Saúde: Enfermagem, Campus de Santa Apolónia, 5300-253 Bragança, Portugal.
Sci Total Environ. 2024 May 20;926:171801. doi: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2024.171801. Epub 2024 Mar 19.
Human biomonitoring data retrieved from real-life wildland firefighting in Europe and, also, worldwide are scarce. Thus, in this study, 176 Portuguese firefighters were biomonitored pre- and post- unsimulated wildfire combating (average:12-13 h; maximum: 55 h) to evaluate the impact on the levels of urinary polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons hydroxylated metabolites (OHPAH; quantified by high-performance liquid chromatography with fluorescence detection) and the associated short-term health effects (symptoms, and total and differentiated white blood cells). Correlations between these variables and data retrieved from the self-reported questionnaires were also investigated. Firefighters were organized into four groups according to their exposure to wildfire emissions and their smoking habits: non-smoking non-exposed (NSNExp), non-smoking exposed (NSExp), smoking non-exposed (SNExp), and smoking and exposed (SExp). The most abundant metabolites were 1-hydroxynaphthalene and 1-hydroxyacenaphthene (1OHNaph + 1OHAce) (98-99 %), followed by 2-hydroxyfluorene (2OHFlu) (0.2-1.1 %), 1-hydroxyphenanthrene (1OHPhen) (0.2-0.4 %), and 1-hydroxypyrene (1OHPy) (0.1-0.2 %); urinary 3-hydroxybenzo(a)pyrene was not detected. The exposure to wildfire emissions significantly elevated the median concentrations of each individual and total OHPAH compounds in all groups, but this effect was more pronounced in non-smoking (1.7-4.2 times; p ≤ 0.006) than in smoking firefighters (1.3-1.6 times; p ≤ 0.03). The greatest discriminant of exposure to wildfire emissions was 1OHNaph + 1OHAce (increase of 4.2 times), while for tobacco smoke it was 2OHFlu (increase of 10 times). Post-exposure, white blood cells count significantly increased ranging from 1.4 (smokers, p = 0.025) to 3.7-fold (non-smokers, p < 0.001), which was accompanied by stronger significant correlations (0.480 < r < 0.882; p < 0.04) between individual and total OHPAH and total white blood cells (and lymphocytes > monocytes > neutrophils in non-smokers), evidencing the impact of PAH released from wildfire on immune cells. This study identifies Portuguese firefighters with high levels of biomarkers of exposure to PAH and points out the importance of adopting biomonitoring schemes, that include multiple biomarkers of exposure and biomarkers of effect, and implementing mitigations strategies.
人体生物监测数据是从欧洲和全球真实野外消防工作中获取的，但数量很少。因此，在这项研究中，176 名葡萄牙消防员在模拟野外火灾扑救前后进行了生物监测（平均：12-13 小时；最大：55 小时），以评估对尿液中多环芳烃羟基代谢物（OHPAH；通过高效液相色谱法荧光检测定量）水平的影响以及相关的短期健康影响（症状以及总白细胞和分化白细胞）。还研究了这些变量与自我报告问卷中获取的数据之间的相关性。根据暴露于野火排放物和吸烟习惯，消防员分为四组：不吸烟未暴露（NSNExp）、不吸烟暴露（NSExp）、不吸烟暴露（SNExp）和吸烟暴露（SExp）。最丰富的代谢物是 1-萘酚和 1-乙酰萘（1OHNaph+1OHAce）（98-99%），其次是 2-羟基芴（2OHFlu）（0.2-1.1%）、1-羟基菲（1OHPhen）（0.2-0.4%）和 1-羟基芘（1OHPy）（0.1-0.2%）；尿液中未检测到 3-羟基苯并（a）芘。暴露于野火排放物会显著增加所有组中每个个体和总 OHPAH 化合物的中位数浓度，但在不吸烟者中更为明显（1.7-4.2 倍；p≤0.006），而在吸烟者中则更为明显（1.3-1.6 倍；p≤0.03）。暴露于野火排放物的最大鉴别因素是 1OHNaph+1OHAce（增加 4.2 倍），而对于烟草烟雾，它是 2-羟基芴（增加 10 倍）。暴露后，白细胞计数显著增加，范围从 1.4（吸烟者，p=0.025）到 3.7 倍（不吸烟者，p<0.001），这伴随着更强的显著相关性（0.480<r<0.882；p<0.04），在个体和总 OHPAH 与总白细胞（以及不吸烟者中的淋巴细胞>单核细胞>嗜中性粒细胞）之间，证明了从野火中释放的多环芳烃对免疫细胞的影响。本研究确定了葡萄牙消防员体内存在高水平的多环芳烃暴露生物标志物，并指出了采用生物监测方案的重要性，该方案包括多种暴露生物标志物和效应生物标志物，并实施缓解策略。
