Overview

Abstract (English)

This study describes blood plasma concentrations of PCBs and p,p’-DDE in the Canadian population aged 20-79 years. PCBs and p,p’-DDE were measured in 1668 participants in the Canadian Health Measures Survey, Cycle 1 (2007-2009). We investigated how concentrations vary by sociodemographic, anthropometric, and lifestyle variables, identified factors associated with exposures, and evaluated concentrations against health-based guidance values. Congeners of PCB most commonly detected were PCB-138, PCB-153, and PCB-180. p,p’-DDE was detectable in > 99% of the samples. Factors associated with [SUM]PCBs were age, region of birth, frequency of fish consumption, and liver intake (R2 = 58.1%). For p,p’-DDE, significant factors were sex, age, region of birth, household education, and ethnic origin (R2 = 47.0%). PCB concentrations in Canadians were similar to those in the United States, and lower than those reported in Europe. A small percentage equalled or exceeded the Human Biomonitoring value of 3.5 ug/L for PCBs. Few exceedances of the p,p’-DDE biomonitoring equivalent were observed.

Abstract (French)

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