title: Distribution of blood concentrations of persistent organic pollutants in a representative sample of the population of Catalonia.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Although virtually all populations worldwide are commonly exposed to numerous persistent organic pollutants (POPs) and human concentrations vary widely, only a few countries conduct nationwide surveillance programs of POP concentrations in representative samples of the general population.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  To evaluate the distribution of serum concentrations of nineteen POPs and their main predictors in a representative sample of the general population of Catalonia.
  
  
  METHODS
  Participants in the Catalan Health Interview Survey aged 18-74 years were interviewed face-to-face, gave blood, and underwent a physical exam. Graphs (including "POP Geoffrey Rose curves") were used to represent the full population distribution of each POP in the 919 participants. Through multivariate statistical models we analyzed the influence on POP concentrations of sex, age, body mass index (BMI), socioeconomic status and, in women, parity.
  
  
  RESULTS
  We detected dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane (p,p'-DDT), dichlorodiphenyldichloroethane (p,p'-DDE), polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) congeners 118, 138, 153 and 180, hexachlorobenzene (HCB) and beta-hexachlorocyclohexane (beta-HCH) in more than 85% of the subjects. p,p'-DDE, HCB and beta-HCH showed the highest concentrations (median=399, 159 and 92 ng/g lipid, respectively). Distributions were highly skewed and interindividual differences were up to 7700-fold. POP levels differed significantly by gender, age, BMI, educational level, and parity.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  In Catalonia, an advanced European society, exposure to POPs remains common, a vast majority of the population has much lower blood concentrations than a relative minority, and the population distributions of POP are hence highly skewed to the right. Shifting distributions towards lower concentrations requires more energetic policies and population strategies.
authors.affiliation: Institut Municipal d'Investigació Mèdica, Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain. mporta@imim.es
authors.forename: Miquel
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Porta
authors.forename: Magda
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Gasull
authors.forename: Elisa
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Puigdomènech
authors.forename: Mercè
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Garí
authors.forename: Magda
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Bosch de Basea
authors.forename: Montserrat
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Guillén
authors.forename: Tomàs
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: López
authors.forename: Esther
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Bigas
authors.forename: José
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Pumarega
authors.forename: Xavier
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Llebaria
authors.forename: Joan O
authors.initials: JO
authors.lastname: Grimalt
authors.forename: Ricard
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Tresserras
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D003710:Demography; D003633:Dichlorodiphenyl Dichloroethylene / Q000097:blood; D004781:Environmental Exposure / Q000032:analysis* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D004784:Environmental Monitoring; D004785:Environmental Pollutants / Q000097:blood*; D062665:Epidemiological Monitoring; D005260:Female; D006581:Hexachlorobenzene / Q000097:blood; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009930:Organic Chemicals / Q000097:blood*; D011078:Polychlorinated Biphenyls / Q000097:blood; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D013030:Spain / Q000453:epidemiology; D055815:Young Adult
chemical_list: D004785:Environmental Pollutants; D009930:Organic Chemicals; D003633:Dichlorodiphenyl Dichloroethylene; D006581:Hexachlorobenzene; D011078:Polychlorinated Biphenyls