Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2006 Aug;48(8):759-70.
doi: 10.1097/01.jom.0000232486.07658.74.

Community exposure to perfluorooctanoate: relationships between serum concentrations and exposure sources

Edward Anthony Emmett  1 , Frances Susan Shofer, Hong Zhang, David Freeman, Chintan Desai, Leslie Michael Shaw
Affiliations

Community exposure to perfluorooctanoate: relationships between serum concentrations and exposure sources

Edward Anthony Emmett et al. J Occup Environ Med. 2006 Aug.

Abstract

Objective: The objective of this study was to determine serum (perfluorooctanoate [PFOA]) in residents near a fluoropolymer production facility: the contributions from air, water, and occupational exposures, personal and dietary habits, and relationships to age and gender.

Methods: The authors conducted questionnaire and serum PFOA measurements in a stratified random sample and volunteers residing in locations with the same residential water supply but with higher and lower potential air PFOA exposure.

Results: Serum (PFOA) greatly exceeded general population medians. Occupational exposure from production processes using PFOA and residential water had additive effects; no other occupations contributed. Serum (PFOA) depended on the source of residential drinking water, and not potential air exposure. For public water users, the best-fit model included age, tap water drinks per day, servings of home-grown fruit and vegetables, and carbon filter use.

Conclusions: Residential water source was the primary determinant of serum (PFOA).

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1. Map showing the locations of the studied communities and the source facility
Subjects for the minimal air exposure group were selected from the area shown in yellow, subjects for the higher air exposure group from the area shown in red. Residents in both of these areas obtained their water from the same public residential water supply. The location of the source facility is shown in black. The residents lived in Ohio, the source facility is located in West Virginia. The state boundary, the Ohio River, is shown in blue.
Figure 2
Figure 2. Relationship of PFOA Concentration in Water Source (Little Hocking & Private Wells) to Serum PFOA Levels
The numbers in parenthesis indicate the number of samples. Although the number of observations from persons using only residential well-water source is small, there is a marked and statistically significant relationship between the PFOA levels in serum and the PFOA concentration in the residential drinking water source. Only subjects 6 years of age or older using a single residential drinking water source were included in the analysis.
Figure 3
Figure 3. Distribution of Serum PFOA Levels in ng/mL by age
Residents >60 years had significantly higher serum PFOA levels compared to all other age groups except children age 2–5 years old
Figure 4
Figure 4. Distribution of serum PFOA levels in ng/mL, within householda for cooking tap water usageb (Amounts are servings per week)
a PFOA levels represents average household value b Households using Little Hocking water system only
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

See all "Cited by" articles

References

    1. Kennedy GL, Butenhoff JL, Olsen GW, et al. The toxicology of perfluorooctanoate. Crit Rev Tox. 2004;34:351–384. - PubMed
    1. Ellis DA, Cahill TM, Mabury SA, et al. Partitioning of organofluorine compounds in the environment. In: Neilson AH, editor. Organofluorines. The Handbook of Environmental Chemistry, Volume 3N. Berlin: Springer-Verlag; 2002. pp. 63–83.
    1. Kannan K, Koistinen J, Beckman K, et al. Accumulation of perfluorooctane sulfonate in marine mammals. Environ Sci Technol. 2001;35:1593–1598. - PubMed
    1. Olsen GW, Church TR, Miller JP, et al. Perfluorooctanesulfonate and other fluorochemicals in the serum of American Red Cross adult blood donors. Environ Health Perspect. 2003;111:1892–1901. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Olsen GW, Church TR, Larson EB, et al. Serum concentration of perfluorooctanesulfonate and other fluorochemicals in an elderly population from Seattle, Washington. Chemosphere. 2004;54:1159–1611. - PubMed

Publication types

LinkOut - more resources