Serum concentrations of polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) and a polybrominated biphenyl (PBB) in men from Greenland, Poland and Ukraine

• Published in: Environment international Vol. 61; pp. 8 - 16
• Main Authors: Lenters, Virissa, Thomsen, Cathrine, Smit, Lidwien A.M., Jönsson, Bo A.G., Pedersen, Henning S., Ludwicki, Jan K., Zviezdai, Valentyna, Piersma, Aldert H., Toft, Gunnar, Bonde, Jens Peter, Becher, Georg, Vermeulen, Roel, Heederik, Dick
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Oxford Elsevier Ltd 01-11-2013; Elsevier
• Subjects: Adult; Arbetsmedicin och miljömedicin; Biological and medical sciences; Brominated flame retardants; Congener profile; Environment. Living conditions; Environmental Health and Occupational Health; Environmental Monitoring; Environmental Pollutants - blood; Environmental pollutants toxicology; Flame Retardants - analysis; Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry; Greenland; Halogenated Diphenyl Ethers - blood; Health Sciences; Human exposure; Humans; Hälsovetenskap; Inuit; Male; Medical and Health Sciences; Medical sciences; Medicin och hälsovetenskap; Middle Aged; PBDE; Poland; Polybrominated Biphenyls - blood; Public health. Hygiene; Public health. Hygiene-occupational medicine; Toxicology; Ukraine; Young Adult; Eastern Europe; Europe; America; Ukraine; Poland; Arctic Region; North America; Greenland; DF; Congener profile; Inuit; AMAP; Brominated flame retardants; PBDE; Human exposure; (P)BB; (P)BDE; Greenland; BFR; LOQ; Human; Biological fluid; Flame retardant; Male; Exposure; Concentration; Concentration measurement; Adult; Serum; Bromine Organic compounds; Comparative study; Public health; (poly)brominated biphenyl; detection frequency; brominated flame retardant; (poly)brominated diphenyl ether; Arctic Monitoring and Assessment Programme; limit of quantification
• ISSN: 0160-4120; 1873-6750; 1873-6750
• DOI: 10.1016/j.envint.2013.09.001

Many brominated flame retardants (BFRs)—including polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs)—have been shown to persist in the environment, and some have been associated with adverse health effects. The aim of the present study was to quantify serum concentrations of common brominated flame retardants in Inuit men from across Greenland, and in men from Warsaw, Poland and Kharkiv, Ukraine. Serum was sampled between 2002 and 2004 from men 19 to 50years of age. 299 samples were analyzed for BDE-28, 47, 99, 100, 153, 154 and 183 and the brominated biphenyl BB-153 using gas chromatography–high resolution mass spectrometry. BDE-47 and BDE-153 were detected in more than 95% of samples from all three populations. All other congeners, except BDE-154, were detected in more than 70% of samples from Greenland; lower detection frequencies were observed in Polish and Ukrainian samples. Concentrations of individual congeners were 2.7 to 15 fold higher in Greenlandic relative to Polish and Ukrainian men. Geometric mean concentrations of the sum of the most abundant PBDEs of the Penta-BDE commercial mixture (BDE-47, 99, 100, 153 and 154) were 6.1, 1.7 and 0.87ng/g lipids in the Greenlandic, Polish and Ukrainian men, respectively. Furthermore, significant geographical differences in BFR concentrations were observed within Greenland. Principal component analysis revealed distinct clustering of samples by country of origin. The associations between ΣPBDEs and age were inconsistent, varying from no association in Greenlandic and Polish study populations to a U-shaped relationship in Ukrainians. We report BFR levels for three populations for which sparse biomonitoring data exists.
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•We quantified serum PBDEs and BB-153 in 299 men from Greenland, Poland and Ukraine.•PBDE and PBB levels were higher in Greenlandic compared to European samples.•Congener profiles differed per country of origin and samples clustered by country.•Some indications of PBDE-age associations, which are likely possibly emissions-related.