Estimation of Reference Values for PFOS and PFOA in Human Biomonitoring and Relevance of Exposure among Family Members in China

Wei Liu, Guanghui Dong, Yingwei Luo, Li Liu, Ziwei Cao, Xiaona Li, Yihe Jin

School of Environmental Science and Technology, Dalian University of Technology, Key Laboratory of Industrial Ecology and Environmental Engineering, Ministry of Education, Dalian, China.
School of Public Health, China Medical University, Shenyang, China.
The first hospital of China medical university, Shenyang, China.

DOI: 10.4236/jep.2012.34045                

Abstract

The reference values of serum perfluorooctane sulfonate (PFOS) and perfluorooctanoate (PFOA) concentrations were evaluated based on the human blood samples collected from Kashi, Xinjiang. And human serum samples of family members from Liaoning were evaluated for levels of PFOS and PFOA with the purpose to compare exposure pathways for family members. Among the 110 blood specimens from Kashi, the detection frequency of PFOS and PFOA was 93% and 6%, respectively. Reference values of serum PFOS, evaluated as the 90th percentiles of the concentrations, were determined to be 6.44 μg/L. Significant positive correlations were observed for serum levels of PFOS and PFOA among family members in Liaoning. Specially, stronger correlation between mother and offspring was observed than that between father and offspring. And stronger correlation of serum PFOS and PFOA levels was observed among fam- ily members in rural areas than those in big and small-medium cities. Difference in the association of serum PFOS and PFOA level among family members suggested that exposure in the outdoor and working environment of different oc- cupations should be evaluated. Present study provides reference values for exposure assessment in China and potential pathways of human exposure to PFOS and PFOA.

Keywords

Perfluorinated Compounds; Human Biomonitoring; Reference Value; Exposure; Family Member

Conflicts of Interest

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

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