ABSTRACT
Background Perfluorinated compounds (PFCs) are persistent organic pollutants. Dietary exposure to PFCs among pregnant women may lead to elevated risks of adverse events during pregnancy and postpartum depression. Objective To estimate potential risk of dietary exposure to PFCs among pregnant women in Xuhui District, Shanghai, and the relationship between dietary PFCs exposure and risks of adverse events during pregnancy and postpartum depression. Methods This study was a small cohort study which recruited women residing in Xuhui District from July 2017 to September 2018. All information was collected through questionnaires by trained investigators. Basic information and dietary information were collected at the time of inclusion, where the dietary information was obtained through the Food Frequency Questionnaire (FFQ). A follow-up visit was conducted within 42 d after delivery to collect the occurrence of adverse events during pregnancy and postpartum depression. According to the results of dietary survey, sampling and PFCs level testing were conducted on commercially available staple foods, poultry and livestock meat, aquatic products, vegetables, milk and dairy products, eggs, etc. The food sampling points covered all subdistricts in Xuhui District, including farmers' markets, supermarkets, convenience stores, and shops. Daily exposure level and hazard ratio (HR) of PFCs per capita were calculated according to the dietary survey and laboratory testing. Logistic regression was used to estimate the relationship between PFCs exposure and the risks of adverse events during pregnancy and postpartum depression. The levels of PFCs exposure were further divided into 4 groups according to interquartile range, and OR and Ptrend value were calculated respectively. Results A total of 345 pregnant women were recruited in this study, whose average age was (29.61±4.92) years. Among them, 26.37% subjects reported at least one adverse event during pregnancy, and 30.14% subjects reported an Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale (EPDS) score ≥12. A total of 132 food samples were collected and tested, and PFCs were positive mainly in milk and dairy products, poultry meat, livestock meat, eggs, fresh water products, and sea water products. The PFCs positive rate in fresh water products was the highest, reaching 100%. The average concentration of PFCs in the positive samples was 0.018-2.10 μg·kg−1. The HR of PFCs was 4.44. A higher risk of postpartum depression was found along with a higher perfluorooctane sulfonate (PFOS) exposure level (Ptrend=0.02). Conclusion Dietary PFCs exposure may pose a health risk to pregnant women. The study findings suggest that decreasing the intake of freshwater products might help reduce the risk of PFCs exposure among pregnant women in Xuhui district, Shanghai.
ABSTRACT
In this study, hollow fiber membrane extraction combined with ambient ionization mass spectrometry ( AMS) was developed for the simultaneous determination of 7 perfluorinated compounds ( PFCs) in aqueous solution, including perfluoroheptanoic acid ( PFHpA ) , perfluorooctanoic acid ( PFOA ) , perfluorooctane sulfonate acid ( PFOS ) , perfluorononanoic acid ( PFNA ) , perfluorodecanoic acid ( PFDA ) , perfluoroundecanoic acid ( PFUdA) , and perfluorododecanoic acid ( PFDoA) . PFCs were detected in negative ion mode using selective reaction monitoring ( SRM) mode. The extraction time and the pH value of extraction solution were optimized. 13 C4-PFOS and 13 C4-PFOA were used as internal standards for quantitative analysis. The method showed good linearity with correlation coefficient values ( r2 ) greater than 0. 991 for the seven target PFCs. With the exception of PFHpA, the limit of detection ( LOD) for other six PFCs was within ranges from 0. 8 to 2. 7 ng/L while the limit of quantitative (LOQ) was from 2. 7 ng/L to 8. 9 ng/L. The enrichment factor of five PFCs was more than two hundred. The developed method was applied to detect the seven PFCs in tap water and Pearl River water, and they were all not detected. The recoveries were within the ranges of 88. 5%-108. 3% and 94. 2%-116. 7% when 40 ng/L and 400 ng/L PFCs were spiked into tap water, respectively. In terms of the Pearl River water, the recoveries were within the ranges of 75. 0%-102. 6% and 81. 2%-97. 6% when 40 ng/L and 400 ng/L PFCs were spiked, respectively.
ABSTRACT
A high performance liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometric ( HPLC-MS/MS ) method was developed for the determination of seven perfluorinated alkyl acidin ( C4-C10 ) and perfluorooctane sulfonate in water. After the particulate was removed by leaching, surrogate standard was added, then the sample was loading to a pre-conditioned WAX cartridge for purification, and then the eluent was concentrated and analyzed by HPLC-MS/MS. Due to the situation that the fluoride polymer was unavoidable to be used in the LC system, a delay column was employed and the perfluorooctanoic acid ( PFOA ) of interference was departed from the PFOA in sample. The method detection limit ( MDL) of PFOA was 0. 8 ng/L, and the lowest quantitative concentration (LQC) was 3. 2 ng/L. For other compounds, the MDL was ranged from 0. 2 to 1. 2 ng/L, and the LQC was 0. 8-4. 8 ng/L. This method also had good reproducibility, for six duplicated samples, the relative standard deviations ( RSD ) of all target compounds were less than 16%. And the recoveries of target compounds at six spiked matrix samples ranged from 87% to 129%, and the RSD were less than 15%. Because of the connection of delay column, the background was well controlled, and a relatively lower MDL were obtained.