Human biomonitoring reference values for some non-persistent chemicals in blood and urine derived from the Canadian Health Measures Survey 2009-2013

The Canadian Health Measures Survey collects nationally representative human biomonitoring data on a suite of chemicals and their metabolites, including many non-persistent chemicals. Data has been collected on non persistent chemicals, including acrylamide, chlorophenols, environmental phenols and triclocarban, organophosphate insecticides, phthalates, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon, pyrethroid insecticides, and volatile organic compounds from 2009 to 2013. Using a systematic approach building on the reference interval concept proposed by the International Federation of Clinical Chemistry and Laboratory Medicine and the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry, we derive human biomonitoring reference values (RV(95)s) for these classes of non-persistent chemicals in blood and urine for the general Canadian population. RV(95)s were derived for biomarkers of non-persistent chemicals with widespread detection in Canadians (> 66% detection rate). Samples with urinary creatinine levels outside the recommended range of 0.3-3.0 mu g/L were excluded. Reference populations were constructed by applying smoking and fasting as exclusion criteria where appropriate. Age and sex were evaluated as possible partitioning criteria and separate RV(95)s were derived for sub-populations in cases where partitioning was deemed necessary. Reference values were derived for 40 biomarkers and represent the first set of RV(95)s for non-persistent chemicals in the general Canadian population. These values provide a measure of the upper margin of background exposure in the general population and can be compared against individual and population human biomonitoring data. RV(95)s can be used to by public health officials to identify individuals with high exposures, and by risk assessors and risk managers to identify atypical exposures or subpopulations with elevated exposures.