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Socio-Economic Status and Health: Evaluation of Human Biomonitored Chemical Exposure to Per- and Polyfluorinated Substances across Status

Research on the environment, health, and well-being nexus (EHWB) is shifting from a silo toward a systemic approach that includes the socio-economic context. To disentangle further the complex interplay between the socio-exposome and internal chemical exposure, we performed a meta-analysis of human...

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Autores principales: Buekers, Jurgen, Colles, Ann, Cornelis, Christa, Morrens, Bert, Govarts, Eva, Schoeters, Greet
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: MDPI 2018
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6313392/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/30544905
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph15122818
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author Buekers, Jurgen
Colles, Ann
Cornelis, Christa
Morrens, Bert
Govarts, Eva
Schoeters, Greet
author_facet Buekers, Jurgen
Colles, Ann
Cornelis, Christa
Morrens, Bert
Govarts, Eva
Schoeters, Greet
author_sort Buekers, Jurgen
collection PubMed
description Research on the environment, health, and well-being nexus (EHWB) is shifting from a silo toward a systemic approach that includes the socio-economic context. To disentangle further the complex interplay between the socio-exposome and internal chemical exposure, we performed a meta-analysis of human biomonitoring (HBM) studies with internal exposure data on per-and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFASs) and detailed information on risk factors, including descriptors of socio-economic status (SES) of the study population. PFASs are persistent in nature, and some have endocrine-disrupting properties. Individual studies have shown that HBM biomarker concentrations of PFASs generally increase with SES indicators, e.g., for income. Based on a meta-analysis (five studies) of the associations between PFASs and SES indicators, the magnitude of the association could be estimated. For the SES indicator income, changes in income were expressed by a factor change, which was corrected by the Gini coefficient to take into account the differences in income categories between studies, and the income range between countries. For the SES indicator education, we had to conclude that descriptors (<college, x years of study, etc.) differed too widely between studies to perform a meta-analysis. Therefore, the use of the uniform ISCED (International Standard Classification of Education) is recommended in future studies. The meta-analysis showed that a higher income is associated with a higher internal exposure to PFASs (PFOS or perfluorooctanesulfonic acid, PFOA or perfluorooctanoic acid, PFNA or perfluorononanoic acid, PFHxS or perfluorohexane sulfonate). This is opposite to the environmental justice hypothesis, referring to an inequitable distribution of detrimental environmental effects toward poor and minority communities by a practice or policy. With a doubling of the income, internal exposure increased on average by 10%–14%. Possible explanations for this difference are given, e.g., underlying differences in diet. However, other sources can also contribute, and the exact causes of SES-related differences in PFAS concentrations remain unclear. Studies are needed that include social descriptors together with lifestyle and dietary information as explanatory variables for internal chemical exposure levels. This will help clarify the underlying factors that link SES with inequity to environmental exposures, and will raise awareness and knowledge to strengthen the capacities of people and communities to advocate chemical exposure reduction in order to reduce this health inequity.
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spelling pubmed-63133922019-06-17 Socio-Economic Status and Health: Evaluation of Human Biomonitored Chemical Exposure to Per- and Polyfluorinated Substances across Status Buekers, Jurgen Colles, Ann Cornelis, Christa Morrens, Bert Govarts, Eva Schoeters, Greet Int J Environ Res Public Health Article Research on the environment, health, and well-being nexus (EHWB) is shifting from a silo toward a systemic approach that includes the socio-economic context. To disentangle further the complex interplay between the socio-exposome and internal chemical exposure, we performed a meta-analysis of human biomonitoring (HBM) studies with internal exposure data on per-and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFASs) and detailed information on risk factors, including descriptors of socio-economic status (SES) of the study population. PFASs are persistent in nature, and some have endocrine-disrupting properties. Individual studies have shown that HBM biomarker concentrations of PFASs generally increase with SES indicators, e.g., for income. Based on a meta-analysis (five studies) of the associations between PFASs and SES indicators, the magnitude of the association could be estimated. For the SES indicator income, changes in income were expressed by a factor change, which was corrected by the Gini coefficient to take into account the differences in income categories between studies, and the income range between countries. For the SES indicator education, we had to conclude that descriptors (<college, x years of study, etc.) differed too widely between studies to perform a meta-analysis. Therefore, the use of the uniform ISCED (International Standard Classification of Education) is recommended in future studies. The meta-analysis showed that a higher income is associated with a higher internal exposure to PFASs (PFOS or perfluorooctanesulfonic acid, PFOA or perfluorooctanoic acid, PFNA or perfluorononanoic acid, PFHxS or perfluorohexane sulfonate). This is opposite to the environmental justice hypothesis, referring to an inequitable distribution of detrimental environmental effects toward poor and minority communities by a practice or policy. With a doubling of the income, internal exposure increased on average by 10%–14%. Possible explanations for this difference are given, e.g., underlying differences in diet. However, other sources can also contribute, and the exact causes of SES-related differences in PFAS concentrations remain unclear. Studies are needed that include social descriptors together with lifestyle and dietary information as explanatory variables for internal chemical exposure levels. This will help clarify the underlying factors that link SES with inequity to environmental exposures, and will raise awareness and knowledge to strengthen the capacities of people and communities to advocate chemical exposure reduction in order to reduce this health inequity. MDPI 2018-12-11 2018-12 /pmc/articles/PMC6313392/ /pubmed/30544905 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph15122818 Text en © 2018 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
spellingShingle Article
Buekers, Jurgen
Colles, Ann
Cornelis, Christa
Morrens, Bert
Govarts, Eva
Schoeters, Greet
Socio-Economic Status and Health: Evaluation of Human Biomonitored Chemical Exposure to Per- and Polyfluorinated Substances across Status
title Socio-Economic Status and Health: Evaluation of Human Biomonitored Chemical Exposure to Per- and Polyfluorinated Substances across Status
title_full Socio-Economic Status and Health: Evaluation of Human Biomonitored Chemical Exposure to Per- and Polyfluorinated Substances across Status
title_fullStr Socio-Economic Status and Health: Evaluation of Human Biomonitored Chemical Exposure to Per- and Polyfluorinated Substances across Status
title_full_unstemmed Socio-Economic Status and Health: Evaluation of Human Biomonitored Chemical Exposure to Per- and Polyfluorinated Substances across Status
title_short Socio-Economic Status and Health: Evaluation of Human Biomonitored Chemical Exposure to Per- and Polyfluorinated Substances across Status
title_sort socio-economic status and health: evaluation of human biomonitored chemical exposure to per- and polyfluorinated substances across status
topic Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6313392/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/30544905
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph15122818
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