Internal exposure levels of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in children and adolescents: a systematic review and meta-analysis

Abstract

Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) are widely found in the environment, and comparing to adults, children are more vulnerable to PAHs exposure. Urinary metabolites of PAHs are used as preferred biomarkers to estimate the PAHs exposure. Systematic review on the internal exposure level of children and adolescents is rare. We aimed to calculate the internal exposure levels of PAHs in children and adolescents and compare the levels of PAHs internal exposure in various children groups. We searched PubMed, OVID, Web of Science, EBSCO, ACS, and four Chinese databases, and all studies examining the urinary concentrations of PAHs in children and adolescent were identified. The total exposure level of 11 PAHs metabolites were pooled. Standard mean difference (SMD) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) of PAHs urinary concentration were calculated and pooled by RevMan5.3 to compare the exposure levels of different children groups. We found that 1-OHPyr, 2-OHNap, 2-OHFlu, 3-OHPhe, and 4-OHPhe were five PAHs metabolites most commonly studied in existing studies in children, and their total exposure levels were 0.38 ± 0.98, 2.32 ± 4.83, 0.81 ± 1.54, 0.09 ± 0.14, 0.03 ± 0.10 μmol/mol creatinine, respectively. The meta-analysis showed that the levels of 1-OHPyr were higher in higher environmental exposure group (SMD = 0.21, 95% CI = 0.03~0.40), ETS exposure group (SMD = 0.31, 95% CI = 0.08~0.54), and 6~11 years group (SMD = 0.16, 95% CI = 0.09~0.24); the level of 2-OHNap (SMD = 0.27, 95% CI = 0.01~0.53) was higher in higher environmental exposure group; however, the levels of 3-OHPhe (SMD = − 0.34, 95% CI = − 0.57~− 0.12) and 4-OHPhe (SMD = − 0.48, 95% CI = − 0.69~− 0.28) were higher in lower environmental exposure group. The levels of 1-OHPyr (SMD = − 0.01, 95% CI = − 0.11~0.10) and 2-OHNap (SMD = 0.01, 95% CI = − 0.20~0.22) were not statistically different between boys and girls. In conclusions, we found that the internal diversity of PAHs existed in children and adolescents, and the level of 1-OHPyr in children and adolescents was in higher status compared with non-occupational people who do not smoke. Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (10.1186/s12199-019-0805-9) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

E-waste polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) exposure lead to child gut-mucosal inflammation and adaptive immune response

“…Younger children are more seriously exposed to PAHs because they prefer to play and crawl around on the oor and ground, and display hand-to-mouth behavior (Huang et al, 2019;Oliveira et al, 2019). Our results showing that the concentrations of most OHPAHs decrease in the 5-year-old children than 4-yearold children in the reference group, supports this suggestion.…”

Exposure to Particulate PAHs on Potential Genotoxicity and Cancer Risk among School Children Living Near the Petrochemical Industry

“…Particle-bound polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) are highly lipophilic and pervasive harmful organic pollutants. They are present ubiquitously in the environment and eventually enter the human body through three main routes: inhalation, ingestion and dermal absorption [ 1 , 2 , 3 ]. They can be absorbed into air particles, with carcinogenic and mutagenic properties [ 4 , 5 , 6 , 7 ].…”

Urinary Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbon Metabolites Are Associated with Biomarkers of Chronic Endocrine Stress, Oxidative Stress, and Inflammation in Adolescents: FLEHS-4 (2016–2020)

“…The ongoing maturation of the endocrine, immune, and central nervous systems makes adverse effects of environmental exposures on these systems during adolescence particularly harmful [22,23]. Significant associations between PAH exposure, oxidative stress, and inflammation have previously been reported in adolescents [6,17]. To the best of our knowledge, chronic endocrine stress has not been investigated in relation to PAHs exposure in any age group.…”

“…After entering the body, PAHs are readily metabolized and eliminated in urine [5]. Urinary concentrations of hydroxylated PAHs, metabolic products of PAHs, reflect the integrated exposure through inhalation, ingestion, and dermal uptake in the hours to days prior to sampling [6].…”