Associations of perfluorinated chemical serum concentrations and biomarkers of liver function and uric acid in the US population (NHANES), 2007-2010

Background: Perfluorinated chemicals (PFCs) are a group of manmade compounds that are not broken down in the body. Four PFCs (PFHxS, PFOS, PFOA, and PFNA) have been found in the blood of more than 98% of the United States population. Objectives: Our goal was to assess associations between PFHxS, PFOS, PFOA, and PFNA and uric acid, alanine transferase (ALT), gamma-glutamyl transferase (GGT), asparate aminotransferase (AST), alkaline phosphate (ALP), and total bilirubin in 2007-2008 and 2009-2010 combined National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES). Methods: We used multivariate linear regression and logistic regression adjusted for age, gender, race/ethnicity and BMI group, poverty, smoking, and/or alcohol consumption to estimate associations. Trend analysis was performed. Results: PFHxS was associated with ALT. Each quartile of PFOS was statistically associated with total bilirubin [(Q2: OR=1.44, 95% CI 1.12-1.84), (Q3: OR=1.65, 95% Cl 1.25-2.18), and (Q4: OR=1.51, 95% Cl 1.06-2.15)1, with evidence of an increasing trend (p-value= 0.028). PFOA was associated with uric acid, ALT, GGT, and total bilirubin. PFNA was linearly associated with ALT (p-value <0.001), and there was statistically significant increasing trend (p-value=0.042). Conclusions: Our analysis found evidence of associations of biomarkers of liver function and uric acid with PFHxS, PFOS, PFOA, and PFNA at levels found in the general U.S. population. (C) 2014 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.