Polychlorinated biphenyls and neurodegenerative disease mortality in an occupational cohort.

Details

Serval ID
serval:BIB_E80C97AE0C27
Type
Article: article from journal or magazin.
Collection
Publications
Title
Polychlorinated biphenyls and neurodegenerative disease mortality in an occupational cohort.
Journal
Epidemiology
Author(s)
Steenland K., Hein M.J., Cassinelli R.T., Prince M.M., Nilsen N.B., Whelan E.A., Waters M.A., Ruder A.M., Schnorr T.M.
ISSN
1044-3983 (Print)
ISSN-L
1044-3983
Publication state
Published
Issued date
01/2006
Peer-reviewed
Oui
Volume
17
Number
1
Pages
8-13
Language
english
Notes
Publication types: Journal Article
Publication Status: ppublish
Abstract
Production of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) ended in the United States in the 1970s, but PCBs persist in the environment and are detectable in the blood of approximately 80% of Americans over age 50. PCBs decrease dopamine levels in rats and monkeys. Loss of dopamine is the hallmark of Parkinson disease, a neurodegenerative disease. There are no epidemiologic studies of PCBs and neurodegenerative disease.
We conducted a retrospective mortality study of 17,321 PCB-exposed workers to determine whether mortality from Parkinson disease, dementia, and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis was elevated compared with the U.S. population. All workers had a least 90 days employment in 1 of 3 electrical capacitor plants using PCBs from the 1940s to the 1970s. PCB serum levels from a sample of these workers in the 1970s were approximately 10 times the level of community controls.
We found no overall excess of Parkinson disease, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, or dementia in the PCB-exposed cohort (standardized mortality ratios [SMRs]-1.40, 1.11, and 1.26, respectively, and number of deaths-14, 10, and 28 respectively). However, sex-specific analyses revealed that women had an excess of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (SMR-2.26; 95% confidence interval [CI] = 1.08-4.15; 10 deaths). Furthermore, among highly exposed women (defined by a job-exposure matrix), we found an excess of Parkinson disease (SMR-2.95; 95% CI = 1.08-6.42; 6 deaths) and dementia (SMR-2.04; 95% CI = 1.12-3.43; 14 deaths).
Our data are limited due to small numbers and reliance on mortality rather than incidence data, but are suggestive of an effect of PCBs on neurodegenerative disease for women. The literature does not offer an explanation for why women would be more affected than men by PCB exposure for these outcomes.

Keywords
Dose-Response Relationship, Drug, Female, Humans, Male, Neurodegenerative Diseases/chemically induced, Neurodegenerative Diseases/mortality, Occupational Exposure, Polychlorinated Biphenyls/toxicity, Retrospective Studies, United States/epidemiology
Pubmed
Web of science
Create date
30/11/2011 10:13
Last modification date
20/08/2019 16:10
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