title: Polychlorinated biphenyl levels in the blood of Japanese individuals ranging from infants to over 80 years of age.
abstract: Individuals' exposure to various persistent organic pollutants (POPs), including polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), and its adverse health effects have been a cause of concern. We measured blood PCB concentrations from samples taken from 507 Japanese individuals ranging from infants to those over 80 years of age. The blood PCB levels increased with age for both male (Spearman's r = 0.69, p < 0.001) and female (Spearman's r = 0.70, p < 0.001) participants. Adult men and nulliparous women showed similar increases with age. However, the PCB levels of multiparous women were lower than those of nulliparous women in their thirties (p = 0.005), probably because the PCBs were transferred from the mothers to their children during pregnancy and lactation. Among infants (<2 years of age), some had as high levels of accumulated PCB levels as those in adults >30 years of age. In some cases, the PCB levels were over 0.8 ng/g wet weight, similar to levels observed in adults over 50 years of age. In the future, it will be necessary to do research on the health of the children who are exposed by high concentration level of POPs.
authors.affiliation: Department of Bioenvironmental Medicine, Graduate School of Medicine, Chiba University, Chiba, 260-8670, Japan, cmori@faculty.chiba-u.jp.
authors.forename: Chisato
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Mori
authors.forename: Kazuhiko
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Kakuta
authors.forename: Yoshiharu
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Matsuno
authors.forename: Emiko
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Todaka
authors.forename: Masahiro
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Watanabe
authors.forename: Masamichi
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Hanazato
authors.forename: Yukiko
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Kawashiro
authors.forename: Hideki
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Fukata
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D004781:Environmental Exposure / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D004785:Environmental Pollutants / Q000032:analysis / Q000097:blood*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D007564:Japan; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011078:Polychlorinated Biphenyls / Q000032:analysis / Q000097:blood*; D055815:Young Adult
chemical_list: D004785:Environmental Pollutants; D011078:Polychlorinated Biphenyls