Bone Mineral Density Changes in Relation to Environmental PCB Exposure

• Published in: Environmental health perspectives 2008-09, Vol.116 (9), p.1162-1166
• Main Authors: Hodgson, Susan, Thomas, Laura, Fattore, Elena, Lind, P. Monica, Alfven, Tobias, Hellström, Lennart, Håkansson, Helen, Carubelli, Grazia, Fanelli, Roberto, Jarup, Lars
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Body mass index; Bone density; Bone Density - drug effects; Bone mineral density; Bones; Cadmium; Chemical hazards; Circuit boards; Coastal environments; Complications and side effects; Confidence intervals; Congeners; Copyrights; Density; Energy use; Environmental aspects; Environmental health; Environmental Pollutants - toxicity; Epidemiology; Female; Females; Forearm; Health; Humans; Male; Males; Measurement; MEDICIN; Medicin och hälsovetenskap; MEDICINE; Menstruation; Minerals; Osteoporosis; p'-DDE; Physiological aspects; Polychlorinated biphenyls; Polychlorinated Biphenyls - toxicity; Populations; Risk; Rivers; Toxic equivalents; Toxicity
• ISSN: 0091-6765; 1552-9924; 1552-9924
• DOI: 10.1289/ehp.11107

Background: Bone toxicity has been linked to organochlorine exposure following a few notable poisoning incidents, but epidemiologic studies in populations with environmental organochlorine exposure have yielded inconsistent results. Objectives: The aim of this study was to investigate whether organochlorine exposure was associated with bone mineral density (BMD) in a population 60-81 years of age (154 males, 167 females) living near the Baltic coast, close to a river contaminated by polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs). Methods: We measured forearm BMD in participants using dual energy X-ray absorptiometry; and we assessed low BMD using age- and sex-standardized Z-scores. We analyzed blood samples for five dioxin-like PCBs, the three most abundant non-dioxin-like PCBs, and p,p′-dichloro-phenyldichloroethylene (p,p′-DDE). Results: In males, dioxin-like chlorobiphenyl (CB)-118 was negatively associated with BMD; the odds ratio for low BMD (Z-score less than -1) was 1.06 (95% confidence interval, 1.01-1.12) per 10 pg/mL CB-118. The sum of the three most abundant non-dioxin-like PCBs was positively associated with BMD, but not with a decreased risk of low BMD. In females, CB-118 was positively associated with BMD, but this congener did not influence the risk of low BMD in women. Conclusions: Environmental organochlorine exposures experienced by this population sample since the 1930s in Sweden may have been sufficient to result in sex-specific changes in BMD.