Perfluoroalkyl Substances Exposure and Hearing Impairment in US Adults

Details

• Alternative Title:
  Environ Res
• Personal Author:
  Ding, Ning ; Park, Sung Kyun
• Description:
  Background:
  
  Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) are widely applied in consumer and industrial products such as nonstick cookware, waterproof clothing, food packaging materials, and fire-fighting foams. These “forever chemicals” are hypothesized to impact neurobehavioral functions. Yet no previous study has explored the role of PFAS on audiometrically determined hearing impairment (HI).
  
  Objectives:
  
  To investigate the associations of serum concentrations of perfluoroalkyl substances with low-frequency HI (LFHI) and high-frequency HI (HFHI) in US adults.
  
  Methods:
  
  We evaluated the cross-sectional associations in 2371 adults aged 20-69 years who participated in the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) 2003-2004, 2011-2012 and 2015-2016; and 449 adults aged ≥70 years from NHANES 2005-2006 and 2009-2010. Serum concentrations of perfluorohexane sulfonic acid (PFHxS), perfluorooctane sulfonic acid (PFOS), perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA), perfluorononanoic acid (PFNA) and perfluorodecanoic acid (PFDA), were measured using solid-phase extraction coupled to High Performance Liquid Chromatography-Turbo Ion Spray ionization-tandem Mass Spectrometry. LFHI was defined as a pure-tone average (PTA) of thresholds across 0.5-1-2 kHz >25 dB; HFHI defined as a PTA across 3-4-6 kHz >25 dB in the worse ear. Survey-weighted logistic regression models were used to compute odds ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) with adjustment for age, age-squared, sex, race/ethnicity, education, poverty-to-income ratio, body mass index, smoking status, exposures to occupational, recreational and firearm noises, and NHANES cycles.
  
  Results:
  
  There were no significant associations when perfluoroalkyl variables were fitted as a linear (log-transformed) term. However, statistically significant associations of HFHI with PFNA (OR=1.70, 95% CI: 1.13-2.56) and PFDA (OR=1.75, 95% CI: 1.00-3.05) were observed when comparing participants with serum concentrations ≥90th vs. <90th percentiles of PFNA (90th percentile=1.8 ng/mL) and PFDA (90th percentile=0.5 ng/mL), respectively, in adults aged 20-69 years. No significant associations were observed for other compounds in adults aged 20-69 years and for all compounds in adults ≥70 years.
  
  Conclusions:
  
  Our study does not provide strong evidence to support the ototoxicity of PFAS exposure. Non-linear threshold dose-response associations between serum concentrations of PFNA and PFDA and HFHI need further investigation.
  
  
• Keywords:
  Adult Aged Alkanesulfonic Acids Caprylates Cross-Sectional Studies Environmental Pollutants Fluorocarbons Hearing Hearing Loss Humans Middle Aged NHANES Nutrition Surveys Perfluoroalkyl Substances Young Adult

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• Source:
  Environ Res. 187:109686
• Pubmed ID:
  32474307
• Pubmed Central ID:
  PMC7331829
• Document Type:
  Journal Article
• Funding:
  T42 OH008455/OH/NIOSH CDC HHSUnited States/ ; T42OH008455/ACL/ACL HHSUnited States/ ; P30 ES017885/ES/NIEHS NIH HHSUnited States/ ; R01 ES026578/ES/NIEHS NIH HHSUnited States/ ; P30 DK020572/DK/NIDDK NIH HHSUnited States/ ; R01 ES026964/ES/NIEHS NIH HHSUnited States/
• Volume:
  187
• Collection(s):
  CDC Public Access
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha256:915c1396a3993ed6b16239fa700b9858485ba34036c63acdaa52662639b2a4fe
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/108505/cdc_108505_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 690.24 KB ]