US EPA

2850962 

Journal Article 

Reductions in serum lipids with a 4-year decline in serum perfluorooctanoic acid and perfluorooctanesulfonic acid 

Fitz-Simon, N; Fletcher, T; Luster, MI; Steenland, K; Calafat, AM; Kato, K; Armstrong, B 

2013 

Yes 

Epidemiology
ISSN: 1044-3983
EISSN: 1531-5487 

24 

4 

569-576 

English 

23685825 

10.1097/EDE.0b013e31829443ee 

WOS:000320305900013 

has erratum 5079945 Reductions in serum lipids with a 4-year decline in serum perflourooctanoic acid and perfluorooctanesulfonic acid (vol 24, pg 569, 2013)

BACKGROUND: Several epidemiological cross-sectional studies have found positive associations between serum concentrations of lipids and perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA, or C8). A longitudinal study should be less susceptible to biases from uncontrolled confounding or reverse causality.

METHODS: We investigated the association between within-individual changes in serum PFOA and perfluorooctanesulfonic acid (PFOS) and changes in serum lipid levels (low-density lipoprotein [LDL] cholesterol, high-density lipoprotein cholesterol, total cholesterol, and triglycerides) over a 4.4-year period. The study population consisted of 560 adults living in parts of Ohio and West Virginia where public drinking water had been contaminated with PFOA. They had participated in a cross-sectional study in 2005-2006, and were followed up in 2010, by which time exposure to PFOA had been substantially reduced.

RESULTS: Overall serum concentrations of PFOA and PFOS fell by half from initial geometric means of 74.8 and 18.5 ng/mL, respectively, with little corresponding change in LDL cholesterol (mean increase 1.8%, standard deviation 26.6%). However, there was a tendency for people with greater declines in serum PFOA or PFOS to have greater LDL decrease. For a person whose serum PFOA fell by half, the predicted fall in LDL cholesterol was 3.6% (95% confidence interval = 1.5-5.7%). The association with a decline in PFOS was even stronger, with a 5% decrease in LDL (2.5-7.4%).

CONCLUSIONS: Our findings from this longitudinal study support previous evidence from cross-sectional studies of positive associations between PFOA and PFOS in serum and LDL cholesterol.