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NOVEL ASSOCIATIONS BETWEEN URINARY PERCHLORATE AND POTENTIALLY RELEVANT EFFECTS ON RISK FACTORS FOR HEART DISEASE BASED ON NHANES 2001-2002
Citation:
SCHREINEMACHERS, D. M. NOVEL ASSOCIATIONS BETWEEN URINARY PERCHLORATE AND POTENTIALLY RELEVANT EFFECTS ON RISK FACTORS FOR HEART DISEASE BASED ON NHANES 2001-2002. Presented at International society of Environmental Epidemiology (ISEE) Annual Meeting, Columbia, SC, August 26 - 30, 2012.
Impact/Purpose:
Such associations observed with perchlorate exposure implicate biological effects involving the innate immune system and pro-inflammatory biomarkers that suggest a possible role impacting cardiovascular risk factors. These novel associations represent the product of an innovative approach using NHANES data to find environmental causes to explain the 50% of cardiovascular risk that is unaccounted for by traditional risk factors.
Description:
Perchlorate is a widespread environmental pollutant, and is a thyroid hormone disruptor. A previous population study based on the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) 2001-2002 database showed that urinary perchlorate concentrations were associated with significantly decreased levels of hemoglobin and hematocrit among men and women, and high density lipoprotein (HDL), a known risk factor for cardiovascular disease among men. In the study presented here an attempt was made to reveal additional biological effects associated with perchlorate by applying more detailed analyses. Methods: This study was based on NHANES 2001-2002. Two groups of study subjects without previous thyroid related diseases were selected: men, age 15-85 (n=731), and women of reproductive age 15-49 (n=491). Associations of urinary perchlorate with several biological systems were investigated. Results: Preliminary results have shown that urinary perchlorate was associated with biological changes related to the innate immune system and pro-inflammatory markers. For example, HDLdecreased and both number of monocytes and C-reactive protein were significantly increased in association with urinary perchlorate levels among men. Further analyses among both men and women will be presented. Conclusion: Such associations observed with perchlorate exposure implicate biological effects involving the innate immune system and pro-inflammatory biomarkers that suggest a possible role impacting cardiovascular risk factors. These novel associations represent the product of an innovative approach using NHANES data to find environmental causes to explain the 50% of cardiovascular risk that is unaccounted for by traditional risk factors. This abstract does not necessarily reflect EPA policy