Use of Newborn Screening Program Blood Spots for Exposure Assessment: Declining Levels of Perfluorinated Compounds in New York State Infants

Abstract

Temporal biomonitoring studies can assess changes in population exposures to contaminants, but collection of biological specimens with adequate representation and sufficient temporal resolution can be resource-intensive. Newborn Screening Programs (NSPs) collect blood as dried spots on filter paper from nearly all infants born in the United States (U.S.). In this study, we investigated the use of NSP blood spots for temporal biomonitoring by analyzing perfluorooctane sulfonate (PFOS), perfluorooctane sulfonamide (PFOSA), perfluorohexane sulfonate (PFHxS), perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA), and perfluorononanoic acid (PFNA) in 110 New York State (NYS) NSP blood spot composite specimens collected between 1997 and 2007, representing a total of 2640 infants. All analytes were detected in g90% of the specimens. Concentrations of PFOS, PFOSA, PFHxS, and PFOA exhibited significant exponential declines after the year 2000, coinciding with the phase-out in PFOS production in the U.S. Calculated disappearance half-lives for PFOS, PFHxS, and PFOA (4.4, 8.2, and 4.1 years, respectively) were similar to biological half-lives reported for retired fluorochemical workers. Our results suggest sharp decreases in perinatal exposure of NYS infants to PFOS, PFOSA, PFHxS, and PFOA and demonstrate, for the first time, the utility of NSP blood spots for assessment of temporal trends in exposure.

Trends of polyfluoroalkyl compounds in marine biota and in humans

“…2) suggesting decreases in perinatal exposure. [36] The observed declining concentrations after the year 2000 are coinciding with the phase-out in POSF production in the USA. Thus, the response in PFC exposure appeared directly after the beginning of production change-over for POSF and ammonium perfluorooctanoate (APFO).…”

“…[38] A comprehensive study was carried out in Norway, covering a time period of , 30 years (1976-2007). [39] [30,32] and Calafat et al [33,34] and estimated total global POSF production volumes, adapted from Paul et al [1] Temporal trends of PFOS, PFOA and PFHxS in blood of New York State infants representing 2640 one to two-day-old infants (arithmetic means; data modified from Spliethoff et al [36] ; whole blood data multiplied by a factor of 2).…”

Consumption of Seafood, Serum Liver Enzymes, and Blood Levels of PFOS and PFOA in the Japanese Population

“…A reduction in human exposure to PFCs has been reported following the phasing-out of perfluorosulfonyl-based compounds and the Environmental Protection Agency's program to reduce PFOA emissions and content in products 7) . Decreasing levels of PFOS and PFOA have been observed in biomonitoring studies in the United States as well 8) .…”

Breath biomarkers in toxicology

“…More recently, archived and new DBS media have been tested for metals and chemicals in newborns that could be indicative of prenatal exposures or used to monitor drug dose (Spliethoff et al 2008;Funk et al 2015;Spooner et al 2009). Neonatal DBS have also been used to assess inflammatory markers and growth factors and are considered new tools for case-control disease studies (Skogstrand et al 2005).…”