Previous studies have found associations between exposure to polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) and cardiovascular risk factors. However, the internal dose of PAH exposure was often examined by quantifying monohydroxylated metabolites of PAHs (OH-PAHs) in urine, which can only reflect recent exposure. On the other hand, hair covers wider temporal windows than urine and has been demonstrated to be a suitable matrix for PAH exposure assessment. Using hair analysis, here we investigated the associations between PAH exposure and obesity, diabetes, hypertension, dyslipidemia, and metabolic syndrome (MetS) and its components in a cross-sectional study of adults aged 18–69 years and enrolled in the Nutrition, Environment and Cardiovascular Health (NESCAV) survey conducted in 2007–2009 in Luxembourg. In addition, we also examined hair cotinine and nicotine because they are well-established biomarkers of tobacco smoke exposure. Associations were explored separately for men (n = 265) and women (n = 347) by logistic regression with adjustment for potential confounders. We found positive associations of OH-PAHs with diabetes in both men and women, positive and inverse associations with obesity and positive associations with hypertension/elevated blood pressure and dyslipidemia/elevated triglycerides (TG) in men, and inverse associations with hypertension but positive associations with MetS, elevated waist circumference and reduced high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) in women. These results may suggest that men and women differ in cardiometabolic responses to environmental PAH exposure. As regards hair cotinine and nicotine, they were associated with diabetes/elevated fasting plasma glucose, elevated blood pressure, and dyslipidemia/elevated TG/reduced HDL-C in men and women. Our results suggest that exposure to PAHs and tobacco smoke may be associated with cardiometabolic health risk. Future prospective studies are warranted to corroborate these findings.

中文翻译：

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NESCAV 研究中与头发多环芳烃相关的心血管危险因素


以前的研究发现，暴露于多环芳烃 （PAH） 与心血管危险因素之间存在关联。然而，PAH 暴露的内部剂量通常是通过量化尿液中 PAH 的单羟基化代谢物 （OH-PAH） 来检查的，这只能反映最近的暴露。另一方面，头发覆盖的颞窗比尿液覆盖更宽，已被证明是 PAH 暴露评估的合适基质。使用头发分析，我们在这里调查了 PAH 暴露与肥胖、糖尿病、高血压、血脂异常和代谢综合征 （MetS） 及其成分之间的关联，这是一项针对 18-69 岁成年人的横断面研究，并参加了 2007-2009 年在卢森堡进行的营养、环境和心血管健康 （NESCAV） 调查。此外，我们还检查了头发可替宁和尼古丁，因为它们是公认的烟草烟雾暴露生物标志物。通过 logistic 回归分别探讨男性 （n = 265） 和女性 （n = 347） 的关联，并调整潜在的混杂因素。我们发现 OH-PAHs 与男性和女性糖尿病呈正相关，与肥胖呈正负相关，与男性高血压/血压升高和血脂异常/甘油三酯 （TG） 呈正相关，与高血压呈负相关，但与 MetS、腰围升高和高密度脂蛋白胆固醇 （HDL-C） 降低呈正相关女性。这些结果可能表明，男性和女性对环境 PAH 暴露的心脏代谢反应不同。 关于头发可替宁和尼古丁，它们与男性和女性的糖尿病/空腹血糖升高、血压升高和血脂异常/TG 升高/HDL-C 降低有关。我们的结果表明，暴露于 PAH 和烟草烟雾可能与心脏代谢健康风险有关。未来的前瞻性研究需要证实这些发现。