title: Is the fact of parenting couples cohabitation affecting the serum levels of persistent organohalogen pollutants?
abstract: Organohalogen compounds constitute one of the important groups of persistent organic pollutants (POPs). Among them, due to their long-term health effects, one should pay attention on organochlorine pesticides, polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) and perfluoroalkylated substances (PFASs). This paper is an attempt to answer the question about relation between the fact of cohabitation by couples expecting a child and the level of the organohalogen compounds in the blood serum of both parents. The study was done on a population of parent couples from Greenland, Poland and Ukraine, from whom blood samples were collected in order to establish the levels of marker organohalogen compounds. We selected, as the representative of these compounds, the most persistent metabolite of DDT, i.e. p,p'-DDE, the most frequently detected PCB congener - CB-153, and PFOS and PFOA as the representatives of PFASs. The results show that in case of all compounds under study the highest concentrations were present always in men in relation to the levels detected in the blood serum of their female partners, regardless of the country of origin of the couple. A positive correlation was noted between the concentrations of the studied compounds in the blood serum of men and women in parenting couples. In some cases these correlations were statistically significant, e.g. for concentrations of p,p'-DDE in pairs from Greenland and Ukraine, of CB-153 in pairs from Poland and Ukraine, and of PFOS for parents from Greenland and Poland, while for PFOA - only for couples from Greenland. The concentrations of the compounds included in the study were similar to the levels found in general population in other countries. Our results show that the exposure to POPs resulting from cohabitation plays a role in the general exposure to these compounds.
authors.affiliation: Department of Toxicology and Risk Assessment, National Institute of Public Health - National Institute of Hygiene, Chocimska 24, 00-791 Warsaw, Poland. Electronic address: kgoralczyk@pzh.gov.pl.
authors.forename: Katarzyna
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Góralczyk
authors.affiliation: Department of Toxicology and Risk Assessment, National Institute of Public Health - National Institute of Hygiene, Chocimska 24, 00-791 Warsaw, Poland. Electronic address: pstrucinski@pzh.gov.pl.
authors.forename: Paweł
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Struciński
authors.affiliation: Centre of Monitoring and Analyses of Population Health, National Institute of Public Health - National Institute of Hygiene, Chocimska 24, 00-791 Warsaw, Poland. Electronic address: bogdan@pzh.gov.pl.
authors.forename: Bogdan
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Wojtyniak
authors.affiliation: Centre of Monitoring and Analyses of Population Health, National Institute of Public Health - National Institute of Hygiene, Chocimska 24, 00-791 Warsaw, Poland. Electronic address: daniel@pzh.gov.pl.
authors.forename: Daniel
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Rabczenko
authors.affiliation: Division of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, Department of Laboratory Medicine, Sweden Lund University, S-221 85 Lund, Sweden. Electronic address: Christian.Lindh@med.lu.se.
authors.forename: Christian H
authors.initials: CH
authors.lastname: Lindh
authors.affiliation: Division of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, Department of Laboratory Medicine, Sweden Lund University, S-221 85 Lund, Sweden. Electronic address: bo_a.jonsson@med.lu.se.
authors.forename: Bo A G
authors.initials: BA
authors.lastname: Jönsson
authors.affiliation: Danish Ramazzini Centre, Department of Occupational Medicine, Aarhus University Hospital, Norrebrogade 44, Building 2c, 8000 Aarhus C, Denmark. Electronic address: gunntoft@rm.dk.
authors.forename: Gunnar
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Toft
authors.affiliation: Division of Environmental Epidemiology, Institute for Risk Assessment Sciences, Utrecht University, Yalelaan 2, 3584 CM Utrecht, The Netherlands. Electronic address: V.C.Lenters@uu.nl.
authors.forename: Virissa
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Lenters
authors.affiliation: Department of Toxicology and Risk Assessment, National Institute of Public Health - National Institute of Hygiene, Chocimska 24, 00-791 Warsaw, Poland. Electronic address: kczaja@pzh.gov.pl.
authors.forename: Katarzyna
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Czaja
authors.affiliation: Department of Toxicology and Risk Assessment, National Institute of Public Health - National Institute of Hygiene, Chocimska 24, 00-791 Warsaw, Poland. Electronic address: ahernik@pzh.gov.pl.
authors.forename: Agnieszka
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Hernik
authors.affiliation: Department of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, Copenhagen University Hospital, Bispebjerg Bakke 23, 2400 Copenhagen NV, Denmark. Electronic address: Jens.Peter.Ellekilde.Bonde@regionh.dk.
authors.forename: Jens Peter
authors.initials: JP
authors.lastname: Bonde
authors.affiliation: Primary Health Care Clinic, Postbox 570, DK-3900 Nuuk, Greenland. Electronic address: HSP@MIL.AU.DK.
authors.forename: Henning S
authors.initials: HS
authors.lastname: Pedersen
authors.affiliation: Department of Social Medicine and Organization of Public Health, Kharkiv National Medical University, 61022 Kharkiv, Ukraine. Electronic address: dmusic@ic.kharkov.ua.
authors.forename: Valentyna
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Zvyezday
authors.affiliation: Department of Toxicology and Risk Assessment, National Institute of Public Health - National Institute of Hygiene, Chocimska 24, 00-791 Warsaw, Poland. Electronic address: k.ludwicki@pzh.gov.pl.
authors.forename: Jan K
authors.initials: JK
authors.lastname: Ludwicki
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D017738:Alkanesulfonic Acids / Q000097:blood; D003633:Dichlorodiphenyl Dichloroethylene / Q000097:blood; D004781:Environmental Exposure / Q000032:analysis*; D004785:Environmental Pollutants / Q000097:blood*; D005191:Family Characteristics; D005260:Female; D005466:Fluorocarbons / Q000097:blood; D006116:Greenland; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010290:Parents; D010575:Pesticides / Q000097:blood; D011044:Poland; D011078:Polychlorinated Biphenyls / Q000097:blood; D012111:Residence Characteristics; D014455:Ukraine
chemical_list: D017738:Alkanesulfonic Acids; D004785:Environmental Pollutants; D005466:Fluorocarbons; D010575:Pesticides; D003633:Dichlorodiphenyl Dichloroethylene; C076994:perfluorooctane sulfonic acid; D011078:Polychlorinated Biphenyls; C014024:2,4,5,2',4',5'-hexachlorobiphenyl
keywords: CB-153; DDE; PFOA; PFOS; Parenting couples; Serum levels