Distribution of blood concentrations of persistent organic pollutants in a representative sample of the population of Catalonia.
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.
Porta
Miquel
M
Institut Municipal d'Investigació Mèdica, Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain. mporta@imim.es
Gasull
Magda
M
Puigdomènech
Elisa
E
Garí
Mercè
M
Bosch de Basea
Magda
M
Guillén
Montserrat
M
López
Tomàs
T
Bigas
Esther
E
Pumarega
José
J
Llebaria
Xavier
X
Grimalt
Joan O
JO
Tresserras
Ricard
R
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
D004785:Environmental Pollutants; D009930:Organic Chemicals; D003633:Dichlorodiphenyl Dichloroethylene; D006581:Hexachlorobenzene; D011078:Polychlorinated Biphenyls