title: Very high correlations between fresh weight and lipid-adjusted PCB-153 serum concentrations: irrespective of fasting status, age, body mass index, gender, or exposure distributions.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Persistent organochlorine pollutants (POPs) have in epidemiological studies been associated with health hazards. The exposure window might be crucial and it is, accordingly, important to analyze exposure concentrations in samples collected at the window of interest. This makes the use of stored blood samples extremely interesting. However, small blood volumes from stored samples in biobanks means that the researchers in epidemiological studies most often have to select a limited number of biomarkers representing the POP exposure and abstain from analyses of lipid concentrations. This raises the question of the necessity of lipid adjustment. The aim of the present study was to evaluate the correlation between fresh weight and lipid adjusted concentrations.
  
  
  METHODS
  We included data from studies were we have used the PCB congener 2,2',4,4',5,5'-hexachlorobiphenyl (PCB-153) as a biomarker for POP exposure and where fresh weight as well as lipid adjusted PCB-153 concentrations are known (n=1628). The variety of the cohort members in the different studies gave us the possibility to better understand how well these measures correlate.
  
  
  RESULTS
  When all individuals were included in the analyses a correlation coefficient of 0.95 between fresh weight and lipid adjusted serum concentrations was obtained. Restricting the analyses to specific subgroups (based on gender, fasting status, age and BMI) gave correlation coefficients between 0.85 and 0.97.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This study does strongly support the use of samples from biobanks in epidemiological studies for analyzing PCBs, at least regarding PCB-153, even though it is not possible to lipid adjust the results.
authors.affiliation: Division of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, Lund University, SE-221 85 Lund, Sweden. lars.rylander@med.lu.se
authors.forename: Lars
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Rylander
authors.forename: Carl-Magnus
authors.initials: CM
authors.lastname: Björkdahl
authors.forename: Anna
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Axmon
authors.forename: Aleksander
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Giwercman
authors.forename: Bo A G
authors.initials: BA
authors.lastname: Jönsson
authors.forename: Christian
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Lindh
authors.forename: Anna
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Rignell-Hydbom
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D015992:Body Mass Index; D001835:Body Weight; D015331:Cohort Studies; D004785:Environmental Pollutants / Q000097:blood*; D005215:Fasting; D005260:Female; D005783:Gender Identity; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011078:Polychlorinated Biphenyls / Q000097:blood*
chemical_list: D004785:Environmental Pollutants; D011078:Polychlorinated Biphenyls; C014024:2,4,5,2',4',5'-hexachlorobiphenyl