Concentration of polychlorinated biphenyls in serum from New Jersey biomonitoring study: 2016-2018.

The first statewide New Jersey Biomonitoring (NJBM) of serum polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) was conducted from 2016 to 2018. Forty ortho-substituted PCBs were measured in serum samples collected from 920 NJ residents in compliance with the CDC method. The lipid adjusted geometric mean (GM) of ∑40PCB concentration for all the 920 measured subjects was 65.5 ng/g lipid (95% CIs: 56.9-75.4 ng/g lipid). Age stratified serum concentration showed that the lowest GM (33.3 ng/g lipid) was observed in the 20-39 years age group (n = 282), followed by a concentration of 76.05 ng/g lipid (n = 382) in the 40-59 years age group, and the highest GM (168.4 ng/g lipid) was found in the 60-74 years age group (n = 256). A survey regression model revealed that ∑40PCBs was significantly associated with age, moderately associated with geographic region, and not significantly associated with sex. The comparison of serum PCB levels in NJBM with the sequential National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) data suggested that the serum PCBs in NJ adults declined 52-59% at all age groups over the last decade. Positive Matrix Factorization (PMF) suggests that ongoing and recent exposure to lower molecular weight PCBs contributes about 15% to total serum PCB levels and more in younger subjects, while higher molecular weight PCBs contribute 52% of the total serum PCB levels and more in older subjects.

Biomonitoring of emerging contaminants, perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), in New Jersey adults in 2016-2018.

New Jersey (NJ) residents in some areas may be exposed to perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) due to PFAS contamination of public drinking water. This contamination stems from industrial discharges and the use of aqueous film-foaming foams at military bases and commercial airports for drills and locations where fires occurred. Exposure to PFAS has raised significant public health concerns due to its persistence both in the environment and human body. The potential toxicity of these chemicals may pose risks to human health. Statewide biomonitoring data is needed to establish a baseline of exposure and to identify the subpopulations at risk. The NJ Department of Health (NJDOH) conducted a statewide NJ Biomonitoring (NJBM) study for PFAS utilizing a cost-effective sampling approach, i.e. acquiring remnant sera from both clinical laboratories and blood banks across NJ. This convenience sampling approach was adopted as an alternative to a costly and labor-intensive probability-based population sampling. One thousand and thirty human sera were collected from NJ adults between 20 and 74 years of age from 2016 to 2018, with additional information of county, sex, and age. The serum collection was demographically and geographically dispersed across four seasons. Twelve PFAS analytes were measured for the specimens collected. The data were post-stratified by county, sex, and age groups (20-39, 40-59, and 60-74 years old). Stratified individual sample weights were developed and used to estimate population means, compare least-squared mean differences, and examine contributing variables. Geometric means (GMs) and percentiles with 95% confidence intervals (CIs) of the target analytes are presented, providing preliminary baselines of the statewide PFAS exposure for NJ adults. PFOA, PFNA, PFHxS, and PFOS were selected for in-depth analyses because their GMs were greater than 0.5 ng/mL and they were detected over 99% in study population. Subjects from this study had higher serum levels of PFOA, PFNA, and PFHxS compared to the general U.S. population reported by the latest National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES in 2015-2016). However, the distributions of PFOA, PFNA, PFHxS, and PFOS across sex and age groups were consistent with the patterns found in NHANES, i.e. all differed by sex and age group. Further sex and age stratification showed significantly lower concentrations of the 4 analytes in younger females (20-59 years old) than in older females (60-74 years old) and males (20-74 years old). Future research is needed to identify PFAS exposure sources and to develop effective intervention strategies. Continuing PFAS biomonitoring using population sampling is recommended for tracking trends and better identifying subpopulations at risk.