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Perfluoroalkyl acids in blood serum samples from children in Taiwan

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Abstract

Severe perfluoroalkyl acid (PFAA) contamination resulting from the fast-growing semiconductor, electrochemical, and optoelectronic industries has been determined in the river water in the vicinity of the Taipei area, Taiwan, during recent years. However, little is known about body burdens of the PFAA contaminations in local residents, especially children living in the Taipei area recently. In this study, ten target PFAA analytes consisted of three perfluorosulfonates (PFSAs) and seven perfluorocarboxylates (PFCAs) in the blood serum samples, collected from 225 healthy children with an average age of 13.6 years in the Taipei area from 2009 to 2010, were analyzed via high-performance liquid chromatography–tandem mass spectrometry (HPLC–MS/MS). As the dominant PFAA contaminant in the blood serum samples from Taiwanese children, perfluorooctane sulfonate (PFOS) contributed 86 % of all the target PFAA analytes, while the other nine analytes contributed less than 5 % individually. PFOS showed the highest median up to 29 ng/mL, ranging from 0.03 to 148 ng/mL, which was higher than that observed in the serum samples collected from Taiwanese children between 2006 and 2008. Statistically, serum concentrations of perfluorobutane sulfonate (PFBS), perfluorohexane sulfonate (PFHxS), and perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) had significantly positive correlations with ages of children (p < 0.05). Furthermore, serum PFBS, PFHxS, and PFOA concentrations in the male children were considerably higher than those in the female children (p = 0.049, p = 0.000, p = 0.000).

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Acknowledgments

This study was supported by grant no. 81172630 from the National Natural Science Foundation of China and grant no. 98-2314-B-002-138-MY3 from the National Science Council in Taiwan. The views expressed in this article are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of the funding source. The funding source had no role in the design or analysis of the study publication.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Science, Shenyang University of Technology, Shenyang, 110870, China

    Jia Bao

  2. Institute of Epidemiology and Preventive Medicine, College of Public Health, National Taiwan University, Taipei, 100, Taiwan

    Yungling Leo Lee

  3. Institute of Occupational Medicine and Industrial Hygiene, College of Public Health, National Taiwan University, Taipei, 100, Taiwan

    Pau-Chung Chen

  4. Key Laboratory of Industrial Ecology and Environmental Engineering (Ministry of Education), School of Environmental Science and Technology, Dalian University of Technology, Dalian, 116024, China

    Yi-He Jin

  5. Department of Biostatistics and Epidemiology and Department of Occupational and Environmental Health, School of Public Health, China Medical University, Shenyang, 110001, China

    Guang-Hui Dong

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  1. Jia Bao
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  2. Yungling Leo Lee
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  3. Pau-Chung Chen
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  4. Yi-He Jin
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Correspondence to Guang-Hui Dong.

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Responsible editor: Leif Kronberg

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Bao, J., Lee, Y.L., Chen, PC. et al. Perfluoroalkyl acids in blood serum samples from children in Taiwan. Environ Sci Pollut Res 21, 7650–7655 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-014-2594-4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-014-2594-4

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