Purpose To investigate the associations between the urinary levels of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) and diabetes mellitus in Korean adults. Materials and Methods We examined the data of 6478 participants aged ≥19 years from the Korean National Environmental Health Survey (KoNEHS) cycle 2 (2012–2014). The urinary levels of 1-hydroxypyrene (1-OHP), 2-naphthol (2-NAP), 1-hydroxyphenathrene (1-OHPhe), and 2-hydroxyfluorene (2-OHFlu) were measured by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry. Diabetes mellitus was defined as a self-report of physician-diagnosed diabetes mellitus or the use of oral hypoglycemics or insulin. Analyses were adjusted for sex, age, body mass index, household income, alcohol consumption, physical activity, urinary creatinine and cotinine, menopausal status, and quartiles of all other PAHs. Results The prevalence of diabetes was 6.5% in the study population. In men, the geometric means of the 2-NAP and 2-OHFlu levels were higher in participants with diabetes mellitus than in those without diabetes mellitus [4.11 vs 3.26 μg/L ( P <0.05) and 0.45 vs 0.40 μg/L ( P <0.05), respectively]. In women, the geometric mean of 2-NAP levels was also higher in participants with diabetes mellitus than in those without diabetes mellitus (1.81 vs 0.56 μg/L, P <0.05), but there were no significant differences in geometric means for other PAHs. A higher odds ratio (OR) of diabetes was found in participants with the highest quartiles of urinary 2-NAP [OR 1.83, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.29–2.60] and 2-OHFlu (OR 1.81, 95% CI 1.10–2.98) than in those with the lowest quartiles. Conclusion The urinary 2-NAP and 2-OHFlu levels were associated with diabetes mellitus in Korean adults. Further studies are needed to determine a potential causal relationship between PAH exposure and diabetes mellitus and its underlying mechanism.

Background: Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) are a group of environmental chemicals with aromatic rings and are generated by the incomplete combustion of organic materials. A few animal and occupational studies suggested a possible association between PAHs exposure and increased risk of diabetes mellitus. Objectives: We aimed to investigate the associations of urine levels of PAHs with diabetes mellitus in Korean adults. Methods: We examined cross-sectional data from the Korean National Environmental Health Survey (KoNEHS) 2012-2014. The study population consisted of 6478 adult subjects (≥20 years of age) from 400 sampling districts in South Korea. The urinary levels of 1-hydroxypyrene, 2-naphthol, 1-hydroxyphenathrene, and 2-hydroxyfluorene were measured in the study subjects. Analyses were adjusted for gender, age, BMI, household income, alcohol consumption, physical activity, urinary creatinine, and urinary cotinine. Results: We observed a positive association between urinary PAHs and cotinine after adjusting for all covariates. A higher geometric mean value of urinary 2-naphthol was observed in subjects with diabetes mellitus compared with controls (2.67 vs. 2.24 μg/L). There was no significant difference in other urinary PAHs according to the presence of diabetes mellitus. According to the elevation of urinary 2-naphthol quartile, the multivariate-adjusted odds ratio (OR) of diabetes mellitus significantly increased in both male and female adults (P-for-trend &lt;0.05). Compared with subjects with urinary 2-naphthol in the lowest quartile, the OR (95% confidence interval) of diabetes mellitus in those in the highest quartile was 1.8 (1.24-2.63). Conclusions: Urinary 2-naphthol levels were positively associated with diabetes mellitus in Korean general populations. Prospective studies are needed to determine a potential causal relationship between PAHs exposure and diabetes mellitus in human. Disclosure Y. Nam: None. S. Kim: None.