Jaus Alexandra, Fragnière Rime Céline, Riou Julien, Brüschweiler Beat J, Bochud Murielle, von Goetz Natalie
Swiss Federal Institute of Metrology, Bern, Switzerland.
Health Protection Directorate, Federal Office of Public Health, Bern, Switzerland.
Environ Int. 2025 Apr;198:109382. doi: 10.1016/j.envint.2025.109382. Epub 2025 Mar 16.
Monitoring human exposure to per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFASs) is of significant public health relevance, given the documented associations between PFAS exposure and a range of adverse health outcomes. This study aimed to provide a sensitive and reliable analytical approach for the determination of PFASs in human serum and to advance the understanding of PFAS exposure. Serum samples from 630 adult participants from the population-based Swiss Health Study pilot phase were analysed for 30 legacy and emerging PFASs. Quantitative analysis was performed after specific sample preparation using high-performance liquid chromatography coupled to mass spectrometry. The association between PFAS serum concentrations and selected demographic and behavioural parameters of interest was assessed using linear regression. The developed method enabled sensitive high-throughput analysis and resulted in reliable validation parameters and robust quantification performance. The study revealed that, while the prevalence of emerging PFASs was observed to be marginal, legacy PFASs predominated. Perfluorooctane sulfonic acid (PFOS, geometric mean (GM) 6.6 ng/mL), perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA, GM 1.3 ng/mL) and perfluorohexane sulfonic acid (PFHxS, GM 1.2 ng/mL) were detected in all serum samples and contributed 88 % to the median sum of determined PFASs (10.3 ng/mL). The levels of PFOA and PFOS were found to be associated with age and gender. Furthermore, PFOS levels were associated with consumption of fish, particularly freshwater species, while PFOA levels were negatively associated with the duration of breastfeeding. Regional disparities were also observed. Several results exceeded specific health thresholds for PFAS intake or human biomonitoring, but the observed values were overall comparable to similar studies conducted worldwide. The provision of comprehensive information on a wide range of legacy and emerging PFASs facilitates a more complete identification of possible sources of exposure, not only in the regions concerned, but also beyond, and establishes a robust foundation for the guidance of future investigations.
鉴于全氟和多氟烷基物质（PFASs）暴露与一系列不良健康后果之间已被记录的关联，监测人类对PFASs的暴露具有重大的公共卫生意义。本研究旨在提供一种灵敏且可靠的分析方法来测定人血清中的PFASs，并增进对PFASs暴露的了解。对来自基于人群的瑞士健康研究试点阶段的630名成年参与者的血清样本进行了30种传统和新兴PFASs的分析。在使用高效液相色谱-质谱联用进行特定样品制备后进行定量分析。使用线性回归评估PFAS血清浓度与选定的感兴趣的人口统计学和行为参数之间的关联。所开发的方法实现了灵敏的高通量分析，并产生了可靠的验证参数和稳健的定量性能。研究表明，虽然新兴PFASs的检出率较低，但传统PFASs占主导地位。在所有血清样本中均检测到全氟辛烷磺酸（PFOS，几何均值（GM）为6.6 ng/mL）、全氟辛酸（PFOA，GM为1.3 ng/mL）和全氟己烷磺酸（PFHxS，GM为1.2 ng/mL），它们占所测定PFASs中位数总和（10.3 ng/mL）的88%。发现PFOA和PFOS的水平与年龄和性别有关。此外，PFOS水平与鱼类消费，特别是淡水鱼类的消费有关，而PFOA水平与母乳喂养持续时间呈负相关。还观察到了地区差异。一些结果超过了PFAS摄入或人体生物监测的特定健康阈值，但观察到的值总体上与全球范围内进行的类似研究相当。提供关于广泛的传统和新兴PFASs的全面信息，不仅有助于在相关地区更全面地识别可能的暴露源，也有助于在其他地区进行识别，并为未来调查的指导奠定坚实基础。
