Background Perfluoroalkyl/polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) are emerging clinical and public health concerns, but their role in cardiovascular disease risk remains unclear. Inflammation and thrombosis may link PFAS and cardiovascular disease. Objective We investigated the association between serum PFAS concentrations and inflammatory and hemostatic markers in midlife women, and whether these markers mediated the association between PFAS and incident hypertension. Methods We analyzed 1,387 participants from the Study of Women’s Health Across the Nation from 1999 to 2000 to 2015 to 2016. Linear mixed-effects models estimated the association of 7 PFAS with high-sensitivity C-reactive protein (hs-CRP), fibrinogen, factor VII activity, plasminogen activator inhibitor-1 (PAI-1), and tissue plasminogen activator antigen. Quantile-g-computation evaluated mixture effects. Causal mediation analyses tested whether these markers mediated the PFAS-hypertension association. Results Individual PFAS were positively associated with hs-CRP and PAI-1. For hs-CRP, per doubling of PFAS ranged from 3.59% (95% CI: 0.01%-7.30%) for branched perfluorooctane sulfonic acid isomers to 5.32% (95% CI: 1.67%-9.10%) for 2-(N-methyl-perfluorooctane sulfonamido) acetic acid. For PAI-1, per doubling of PFAS ranged from 2.41% (95% CI: −0.86% to 5.78%) for the linear perfluorooctane sulfonic acid isomer to 3.04% (95% CI: 0.24%-5.93%) for 2-(N-methyl-perfluorooctane sulfonamido) acetic acid. However, none of these associations remained statistically significant after false discovery rate correction. PFAS mixture effects were 6.15% (95% CI: −0.83% to 13.58%) for hs-CRP and 6.05% (95% CI: 0.29%-12.14%) for PAI-1. No associations were found with other markers, and biomarkers did not mediate the PFAS-hypertension association. Conclusions These findings suggest, but do not establish, that PFAS may be linked to inflammation and impaired fibrinolysis in midlife women.
Yundan Zhang, Wenzhi Zhang, Carrie A. Karvonen-Gutierrez et al.· JACC: Advances· 0 citations
Firefighters suppressing wildland urban interface (WUI) fires may be exposed to smoke from burning vegetation as well as structures and vehicles. To better understand firefighters’ internal dose exposures in the WUI environment, 250 firefighters from Southern California were enrolled into the Fire Fighter Cancer Cohort Study (FFCCS) in 2019, providing urine samples at enrollment and post-fire. One-hundred and twenty-five post-fire samples were collected from 89 participants. Samples were analyzed for metal(loid)s and metabolites of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), volatile organic compounds (VOCs), and organophosphate esters (OPEs). We assessed the difference between creatinine-corrected urine concentrations for each chemical at enrollment compared with post-fire, controlling for the individual participant. We also compared these concentrations to the general U.S. population concentrations from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) and the American Conference of Governmental Industrial Hygienists Biological Exposure Indices (BEIs) when available. All seven PAH and 11 VOC metabolite concentrations increased significantly from enrollment to post-fire. Diphenyl phosphate, antimony, and cadmium also significantly increased from enrollment to post-fire. Maximum post-fire concentrations in firefighters also exceeded the BEI for 1-hydroxyprene and trans,trans-muconic acid (a metabolite of benzene). Firefighters assigned to structure defense had significantly higher increases in PAH metabolites compared to those assigned to wildland firefighting tasks. Personal protective equipment (PPE) usage was not evaluated in this study, but future studies could combine personal sampling with the collection of detailed PPE usage to develop effective practices and decontamination strategies during WUI fire responses.
Miriam M Calkins, Alexander C. Mayer, Derek J Urwin et al.· International Journal of Hyg...· 0 citations