OBJECTIVES: Atopic dermatitis (AD) is a common allergic disease with potential links to environmental pollutants, including heavy metals. This study investigates the association between co-exposure to cadmium and mercury and AD among Korean children. METHODS: Data from the fourth cycle of the Korean National Environmental Health Survey (KoNEHS) included 736 elementary school students. Urinary cadmium and mercury levels were measured, and their association with lifetime prevalence of AD was analysed using logistic regression, weighted quantile sum (WQS) regression, quantile g-computation (QGC), and Bayesian kernel machine regression (BKMR). Confounders adjusted included age, sex, urinary cotinine, income, and body mass index. Sensitivity analyses used symptomatic AD and AD treatment as outcome variables. RESULTS: Among two metals, only cadmium in the highest tertile showed an odds ratio (OR) of 2.39 (95% CI: 1.12-5.10) compared with lowest tertile, with a significant trend per tertile increase (OR 1.58, 95% CI: 1.08-2.31) in multiple logistic regression. Co-exposure analysis using WQS and QGC revealed significant associations with AD prevalence, with WQS showing an OR of 1.47 (95% CI: 1.18-1.83) and QGC showing an OR of 1.60 (95% CI: 1.20-2.13) per tertile increase of exposure. BKMR indicated a dose-dependent relationship between overall exposure and AD risk. For symptomatic AD, similar trend was found. The treatment status of AD did not show a significant association with either heavy metal. CONCLUSION: This study suggests a significant association between co-exposure to cadmium and mercury and atopic dermatitis, emphasizing the need to consider combined environmental exposures in epidemiological studies.

• MeSH
• Dermatitis, Atopic * epidemiology   chemically induced   MeSH
• Child MeSH
• Cadmium * urine   adverse effects   MeSH
• Environmental Pollutants * urine   MeSH
• Humans MeSH
• Prevalence MeSH
• Mercury * urine   adverse effects   MeSH
• Students statistics & numerical data   MeSH
• Environmental Exposure * adverse effects   statistics & numerical data   analysis   MeSH
• Health Surveys MeSH
• Check Tag
• Child MeSH
• Humans MeSH
• Male MeSH
• Female MeSH
• Publication type
• Journal Article MeSH
• Geographicals
• Republic of Korea MeSH

OBJECTIVES: Polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), a family of persistent toxic and organic environmental pollutants, were associated with multiple organ damages in humans once accumulating. However, association between PCBs exposure and circulatory immune markers were not clear. METHODS: Data was collected from participants enrolled in the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey in 1999-2004. PCBs were categorized by latent class analysis (LCA). Weighted quantile sum (WQS) regression was used to investigate effects of PCBs exposure on circulatory immune markers including leukocyte counts, monocyte-lymphocyte ratio (MLR), neutrophil-lymphocyte ratio (NLR), platelet-lymphocyte ratio (PLR), and systemic immune-inflammation index (SII). RESULTS: There were 3,109 participants included in the final analysis with blood PCBs levels presented as 3 classes. The high PCBs group had a higher rate of comorbidities. Leukocyte, lymphocyte and neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (NLR), platelet-to-lymphocyte ratio (PLR) and system immune-inflammation index (SII) were significantly lower in the high PCBs group than in the low PCBs group (all p-values < 0.05). After adjusting for covariant variables, the low PCBs group was positively associated with SII (p = 0.021) and NLR (p = 0.006) in multivariate regression. Significantly negative correlations between PCBs classification and SII (β = -14.513, p = 0.047), and NLR (β = -0.035, p = 0.017) were found in WQS models. LBX028LA showed the most significant contribution in the associations between PCBs and SII, and LBX128LA contributed most significantly to associations with NLR. CONCLUSION: Our study adds novel evidence that exposures to PCBs may be adversely associated with the circulatory immune markers, indicating the potential toxic effect of PCBs on the human immune system.

• MeSH
• Biomarkers * blood   MeSH
• Adult MeSH
• Environmental Pollutants * blood   MeSH
• Middle Aged MeSH
• Humans MeSH
• Polychlorinated Biphenyls * blood   toxicity   MeSH
• Aged MeSH
• Environmental Exposure adverse effects   analysis   MeSH
• Nutrition Surveys * MeSH
• Inflammation blood   chemically induced   immunology   MeSH
• Check Tag
• Adult MeSH
• Middle Aged MeSH
• Humans MeSH
• Male MeSH
• Aged MeSH
• Female MeSH
• Publication type
• Journal Article MeSH

INTRODUCTION: Firefighting is one of the most hazardous occupations due to exposure to per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs). Such exposure is suspected to affect the cardiometabolic profile, e.g., liver function and serum lipids. However, only a few studies have investigated the impact of this specific exposure among firefighters. METHODS: Men included in the CELSPAC-FIREexpo study were professional firefighters (n = 52), newly recruited firefighters in training (n = 58), and controls (n = 54). They completed exposure questionnaires and provided 1-3 samples of urine and blood during the 11-week study period to allow assessment of their exposure to PFAS (6 compounds) and PAHs (6 compounds), and to determine biomarkers of liver function (alanine aminotransferase (ALT), gamma-glutamyl transferase (GGT), aspartate aminotransferase (AST), alkaline phosphatase (ALP) and total bilirubin (BIL)) and levels of serum lipids (total cholesterol (CHOL), low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL) and triglycerides (TG)). The associations between biomarkers were investigated both cross-sectionally using multiple linear regression (MLR) and Bayesian weighted quantile sum (BWQS) regression and prospectively using MLR. The models were adjusted for potential confounders and false discovery rate correction was applied to account for multiplicity. RESULTS: A positive association between exposure to PFAS and PAH mixture and BIL (β = 28.6%, 95% CrI = 14.6-45.7%) was observed by the BWQS model. When the study population was stratified, in professional firefighters and controls the mixture showed a positive association with CHOL (β = 29.5%, CrI = 10.3-53.6%) and LDL (β = 26.7%, CrI = 8.3-48.5%). No statistically significant associations with individual compounds were detected using MLR. CONCLUSIONS: This study investigated the associations between exposure to PFAS and PAHs and biomarkers of cardiometabolic health in the Czech men, including firefighters. The results suggest that higher exposure to a mixture of these compounds is associated with an increase in BIL and the alteration of serum lipids, which can result in an unfavourable cardiometabolic profile.

• MeSH
• Bayes Theorem MeSH
• Biomarkers urine   MeSH
• Fluorocarbons * MeSH
• Firefighters * MeSH
• Liver chemistry   MeSH
• Cardiovascular Diseases * MeSH
• Humans MeSH
• Lipids MeSH
• Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons * urine   MeSH
• Occupational Exposure * analysis   MeSH
• Check Tag
• Humans MeSH
• Male MeSH
• Publication type
• Journal Article MeSH
• Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't MeSH