Increased risk of diabetes and polychlorinated biphenyls and dioxins: a 24-year follow-up study of the Yucheng cohort.
OBJECTIVE
Polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) and polychlorinated dibenzofurans (PCDFs) are important and persistent organic pollutants (POPs) in humans. Recent cross-sectional studies have detected increased concentrations of serum POPs in diabetic patients. We aimed to examine the association between previous high exposures to PCBs and PCDFs and the cumulative incidence of type 2 diabetes and hypertension.


METHODS
During the late 1970s, the consumption of rice-bran oil laced with PCBs poisoned thousands of Taiwanese. Between 1993 and 2003, we examined 1,054 Yucheng ("oil disease") victims against neighborhood reference subjects using a protocol blinded for POP exposure. Here, we report the results derived from 378 Yucheng subjects and 370 matched references.


RESULTS
The diabetes risk to members of the Yucheng cohort relative to their reference subjects was significantly increased for women (odds ratio [OR] 2.1 [95% CI 1.1-4.5]) but not for men after considering age, BMI, cigarette smoking, and alcohol intake. Yucheng women diagnosed with chloracne had adjusted ORs of 5.5 (95% CI 2.3-13.4) for diabetes and 3.5 (1.7-7.2) for hypertension compared with those who were chloracne free.


CONCLUSIONS
Yucheng women, who had endured previous exposure to PCBs and PCDFs, suffered from increased incidences of diabetes, particularly those who had retained significant levels of pollutant as evident from chloracne. When planning treatments against diabetes, the body burden of PCBs and dioxins should be carefully considered, especially for women.
Wang
Shu-Li
SL
Division of Environmental Health and Occupational Medicine, National Health Research Institutes, Miaoli, Taiwan.
Tsai
Pei-Chien
PC
Yang
Chiu-Yueh
CY
Guo
Yueliang Leon
YL
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000393:Air Pollutants; D003920:Diabetes Mellitus / Q000453:epidemiology*; D004147:Dioxins / Q000097:blood; D004781:Environmental Exposure; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D016017:Odds Ratio; D011078:Polychlorinated Biphenyls / Q000097:blood; D012042:Registries; D012307:Risk Factors; D013624:Taiwan / Q000453:epidemiology
D000393:Air Pollutants; D004147:Dioxins; D011078:Polychlorinated Biphenyls