Determinants of environmental styrene exposure in Gulf coast residents

BACKGROUND: In a previous study of exposure to oil-related chemicals in Gulf coast residents, we measured blood levels of volatile organic compounds. Levels of styrene were substantially elevated compared to a nationally representative sample. We sought to identify factors contributing to these levels, given the opportunities for styrene exposure in this community. METHODS: We measured blood styrene levels in 667 Gulf coast residents and compared participants’ levels of blood styrene to a nationally representative sample. We assessed personal and environmental predictors of blood styrene levels using linear regression and predicted the risk of elevated blood styrene (defined as above the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey 95(th) percentile) using modified Poisson regression. We assessed exposure to styrene using questionnaire data on recent exposure opportunities and leveraged existing databases to assign ambient styrene exposure based on geocoded residential location. RESULTS: These Gulf coast residents were 4–6 times as likely as the nationally representative sample to have elevated blood styrene levels. The change in styrene (log ng/mL) was 0.42 (95% CI: 0.34, 0.51) for smoking, 0.34 (0.09, 0.59) for time spent in vehicles and 1.10 (0.31, 1.89) for boats, and −0.41 (−0.73, −0.10) for fall/winter blood draws. Residential proximity to industrial styrene emissions did not predict blood styrene levels. Ambient styrene predicted elevated blood styrene in subgroups. CONCLUSIONS: Personal predictors of increasing blood styrene levels included smoking, vehicle emissions, and housing characteristics. There was a suggestive association between ambient and blood styrene. Our measures of increased regional exposure opportunity do not fully explain the observed elevated blood styrene levels in this population.